Dragons of Hourglass
by ShoRammy
Summary: The effects of Spike's transformation to Golden Heart causes ripples in the world of dragons and ponies. The alicorn Harmony understanding of dragons will be turned upside down. And the evil from the distance past still looms over them all. Book 2 of the Keeper Trilogy
1. Prolouge: Galloping in Fiery Dreams

_A cool breeze wafted through the trees. Stars twinkled through the canopy above. An owl hooted before silently gliding off. The sounds of hoofed creature could be heard walking in the underbrush. A snapping twig scared a rabbit which suddenly burst out of a bush fleeing in a zigzag pattern down a small trail._

 _Out from among the trees Harmony stepped out. His fur and feathers, like always, shifting colors. His snow white mane glowed in the pale light. His sleek, black tail, however, was so dark it absorbed all._

 _He stopped for a moment, peering around. He snorted lightly before walking onward. Gazing downward he saw the trail used by the rabbit earlier. The alicorn stepped out from the underbrush and began walking down the trail._

 _He followed the trail deeper into the forest. As the vegetation thickened tree branches and brambles scratched his sides. Ignoring the irritation he trudged on hoping that he would eventually break through the forest to get a better idea where he was. He couldn't remember how he got here nor where 'here' was. With any luck he would find a clearing to allow him to see enough of the starry sky to see where he was. If not, he could at least get above the tree tops._

 _So intent on looking around for a clearing that he missed seeing the vine that was growing across the trail. He tripped over the vine he stumbled into a thorny bush adding many more cuts and scraps. Growling in irritation he got up and brushed off some of the brambles and dirt ignoring the bleeding. He took a few cleansing breaths before moving on._

 _After what seemed like too long, he finally saw an opening through the trees. Breaking into a fast trot he pushed forward. The opening in the trees led into a meadow. Above him where stars should be shining clouds swirled around except around a group of stars. The hole in the sky had a shape that made it easy to identify the constellation._

 _"Draco?" He questioned outloud. That was odd. Why would the clouds open up in the shape of a dragon and have the constellation Draco in the middle of it? Something was definitely wrong. He ears twisted about trying to pick up a sound, any sound. The sounds of nighttime forest were absent. Even though he was in a meadow and was not within the trees themselves he should still be hearing sounds of animals. He couldn't even hear any rustling of leaves with the breeze that was still in the air. This lack of noise was not good._

 _Harmony warily eyed the forest trying to peer into the darkness to see what if anything was stalking the forest. After scanning the forest twice even using magic to enhance his vision he could find no signs of movement nor of a creature hiding in preparation of jumping out to attack._

 _This was not making him feel any better. He took a moment to again look up at the sky. Nothing was different than before. The cloud still swirled angrily and the constellation still twinkled._

 _His eyes seem to dwell on the stars a bit longer than needed. It was as if they were gazing back at him. The longer he looked the more to him that it seem to be eying him with greater scrutiny. It was like a hawk bearing down upon him like its prey. He couldn't help but to cower in fear willing that it would stop._

 _A beastly roar filled his ears dispelling that it was all in his head. The stars comprising Draco turned blood red. Smoke suddenly filled his nostrils. Looking about he saw that the forest around him was suddenly a roaring inferno. He could feel the heat bearing down on him. Black smoke obscuring all of his vision and coating his lungs making it harder to breath._

 _In a panic he galloped around the clearing trying to find an opening, any opening. He couldn't find any only increasing his panic. Every time he thought there was a break in the fire a wave of heat and flames would crash against him driving him back. He even tried smothering the fire with his magic but the fire seem to ignore his magic as if there was no magic trying to interfere._

 _The fire had to be magical in order to not be affected by magic. The question was what type of magic fire could be strong enough to not even be affected by alicorn magic!? The question was driven out of his mind and the fire flared up suddenly and started burning through the tall grass toward him. He had no choice but to back up towards the center of the meadow._

 _The smoke and fire would make it outright impossible to fly out leaving only his magic to save him. While it was dangerous to teleport out without knowing where to go he needed to get out and fast. His horn glowed in preparation to teleport out but couldn't get his magic to respond. His horn had frizzed out. He tried again only for his aura to fail again._

 _He screamed in pain as the embers from the approaching fire landed on him setting his fur and wings on fire. He gritted his teeth both from the pain and the attempts to concentration on any spell that could save him. Nothing came. He was losing, fast._

 _The smell of burning fur and flesh overpowered his nostrils. He collapsed as he began losing consciousness. A dragon roar filled his ears as his vision faded. Draco was the final thing to fade from his vision._

* * *

"EEEEEEEEE YAAAAAAAAAA!" He screamed nearly jumping in fright. His fur and mane were mated in a cold sweat. The moon could be seen shining through a hole in the roof.

"Luna I can take care of myself." He grumbled a bit, trying to calm his nerves.

The moon slowly moved away from the hole and the room darken. Shaken, Harmony sighed a bit than slowly laid back falling once again into a troubled sleep.


	2. Golden Journal 1

_**A/N: This is badly written on purpose**_

* * *

 **Golden Journal #1**

 **From the Journals of Golden Heart, He of Hourglass.**

 _3 days after The Choosing_

* * *

I love my hoard. What real dragon wouldn't? The library here is just perfect. Sadly it has been neglected far too long. I will make sure that never happens again. No good dragon would let a hoard fall into disrepair. Given the number of books and scrolls here I will have my work cut out for me for a good year before the hoard is up to more acceptable levels. Not that I mind given my immortality. Still…

The initial excitement over my hoard is diminishing faster than I expected… I can't be too sure on the cause… The Heritage Memories aren't fully integrated with me yet. From my calculations it should take around a month. That would be if I didn't have Keeper memories as well. My head has been giving me such a headache.

Speaking of Keepers the remaining two Keepers were here at the time of my Choosing. I don't care for the full story. I only care from the moment of my real birth. But these Keeper Memories are in conflict to a dragons…

pretty books

Given the number of books and scrolls here I will have my work cut out for me for a good year.

There is so much to do yet in my Hoard. I can not neglect those that have taken sanctuary in my territory so today I have to let them into my hoard. At least the part that is ready.

Why do I have such feelings of brothership with the Keeper known as Harmony? I know that isn't his real name.

I told him that I wasn't an ordinary dragon… Which I guess is right given that I am the Dragon Keeper of Harmony… But I also without hesitation I called him brother! I gave him my Hoard Name! It wasn't like with the young ascended one called Twilight Sparkle. Something with her tore at my very being, my very name. I _will not_ go against my name.

That wasn't the case with him. I said all that without thinking on instinct!… and yet somehow it just feels _right…_ What is so special about this Alicorn Keeper?

Somehow the Keepr Keeper Memories are Harmonizing with the Dragon Heritage Memories. The only thing that could allow that… no it can't be…

tThe name… He helped with the Choosing something so sacred that he should have been killed by on sight… what did I tell him? _"But so is being an orphaned or unguarded egg."_

Everything goes back to my name. The answer must be pre-Choosing!The only memories of that are my names, emotions

and Keeper Memorys Memories


	3. Golden Journal 2

**From the Journals of Golden Heart, He of Hourglass.**

 **Entry #2**

 _(1 month after The Choosing)_

* * *

What in hatchling wings was I thinking? I have been staring at my first entry for hours and I can't figure it out. It's a mess of confusion and… Yeah I would say confusion is a good word to use. My memory from that time is fuzzy, faded almost. I can't tell if its normal or not given that I have two sets of magical memories: the Dragon Heritage Memories and (for lack of a better term) Keeper Heritage Memories. Well there is a third type… maybe its more common than I thought or should I say was… that type hasn't been around since _it._ Though I'm sure unlike the Keeper Memories that type is less likely to… override the Dragon Heritage Memories. It should be more like complimentary.

Still, the entry could be useful when I reimplement that. It might give me some insight on what to expect. (I will take some time and write separately everything I can remember.)

Even if it wasn't I can't get rid of it now its a part of my hoard. I must be more careful what I add to my hoard in the future.

I think I might show it to He of Harmony. It might be insightful for him to get a better understanding of what goes on right after a Choosing. Huh, well what do you know? I keep finding some worth for the first entry. I'll make a copy for him to look at later though.

I will dwell on this a bit more later. I can sense that the Alicorn Keeper He of Harmony is approaching the library and I will need to see what he needs.

Until then may your claws stay sharp and your fire roar.


	4. Broken Gems

"Oh buck it." Harmony cursed throwing the gem he was examining in frustration.

Again, he could find nothing wrong with any of the control gems, and none of the power gems were burnt out, missing, or cracked. He was getting nowhere fast. He wasn't ready to get Twilight yet. He wasn't sure how helpful she would be anyway as the machinery was at least a couple centuries ahead of Equestria. For that matter, the vortex of energies make the system he was examining only possible here.

There was no manual that he could find. He had checked the secret archives at the council building six times. There wasn't any record on who built or designed the defense system. A hint had to be somewhere as the machinery was too complex to not have a set of blueprints or a manual.

Harmony sighed heavily. Neither thinking nor staying here was going to help. The only other place that might have some answers would be at the library. It had been a month since the Choosing meaning that it should be safe enough to ask him for help. Not that seeing him that night and three days after were all that safe. He just knew that it was going be one of those days.

* * *

Golden Heart narrowed his eyes dangerously, "You need a manual for Hourglass' defense system… a manual for the defense system!?"

Harmony's mouth went dry. Thankfully, for he was sure he would have gulped otherwise. He really didn't want to hear the double phrasing. Something told him that the dragon thought that he had somehow failed in his duty in protecting his hoard. A sore spot for all dragons but Harmony knew there was something deeper than that. Knowing how Spike was like Golden Heart could possibly have similar issues. He had no more time to think on the matter before he saw a claw swipe coming at him.

Harmony quickly jumped back opening his wings in a threatening manner. Golden Heart lunged forward snapping his jaws barely missing the alicorn as he slid to the side.

"It has nothing to do with your inability to protect Hourglass." Harmony growled through gritted teeth. _Come on...Give me an opening..._

Golden Heart did not seem to waver at this as he swung his spade tail missing Harmony's head by inches as he ducked down. The alicorn continued to duck downward transitioning to a roll. As he came out along the dragon's side he used his magic on the floor causing it to rock. The motion knocked Golden Heart off his two feet and onto four. Harmony took advantage of this and jumped on top of him causing his legs to completely give out.

Harmony magically increased his weight to make it easier to keep the dragon down. Golden Heart stopped struggling momentarily. Harmony took the opportunity to whisper into his ear frills. "It has everything to do with its defenses failing _before_ your arrival. You know as well as I do the significance of Hourglass and there are things here that if found by the wrong people could cause us more problems than we can handle right now. You are my brother, Golden Heart. I wish not to fight you nor would I ever imply your inability to protect your hoard."

At that Harmony released Golden Heart confident he got his point across. He was kind of glad that the fight was in the library stopping the use of fire. That alone would have lengthen the fight and would most likely increased the chance of collateral damage.

Golden Heart stiffly got up, popping a few joints. The dragon eyed Harmony very hard before the feralness of his eyes lessened back to normal. Smoke puffed out as he grumbled angrily. Harmony caught something in his eye before he turned around to clearly sulk on his gem pile. "Very well take a look. If you find something that may be of help let me know so I know which book you are borrowing."

 _Interesting… he is treating his hoard like any librarian would. Also...I wonder…_ Harmony thought trying to get his head around this dragon. He will dwell on this later he had more pressing matter to attend to.

Golden Heart shifted on his pile snapping Harmony out of his train of thought and out of the coming headache. Taking the dragons 'subtle' hint as his cue to leave he moved out of the room and back into the main foyer. His answers would be elsewhere in the library. Golden Heart's "bed" was located in the main reference and study hall. Most of the books in there would be encyclopedic in nature. He need to find the history and nonfiction sections. With any luck he could find clues that he needed.

The problem was there were two other halls and he couldn't remember which one was the correct direction. Taking a guess that the hall to the right was correct he began down that hall. The hallway was not yet restored or cleaned yet as he could see dust covering everything and the plaster on the wall was chipping off. He walked in silence for a few moments before he got to the end. The doors at the end were half of its hinges. Rotten pieces of the wood littered the floor leaving gaps in the door.

 _Well he hasn't gotten to this section… yet._ Harmony thought has he stepped through the shattered doors.

He could see that it look very much like it was the last time he was here nearly two hundred years ago and to a lesser extend a month ago in the Golden Heart's... whatever that would be called… This was going to take time. Time that was running out. He need to get the defense system running again before taking the Bearers back to Equestria.

* * *

"Again, _nothing_!" Harmony was tempted to throw the book he was skimming but knew better. He had been browsing this section of the library for days and was not getting anywhere fast. He was in the history and nonfiction section that much he figured out within moments of entering. That was good and all if it wasn't for the problem of not knowing exactly how it was organized. It also didn't help that not all of the bookshelves were intact and with books and scrolls still in place.

"May I make a suggestion?"

Harmony nearly jumped out of his skin at the voice. After turning quickly he saw Golden Heart standing nearby with a bemused look on his scaly snout. "He of Hourglass! I...I did not hear you approach."

"Obviously." He crossed his arms.

Harmony was not sure what to make of this. "Am I disturbing you, He of Hourglass?"

Golden Heart facepalmed, rubbing the brow of his snout for a moment while correcting, "Golden Heart. He of Harmony. Golden Heart."

"Of course, Golden Heart." Harmony had to fight the urge to flatten his ears. This dragon was causing him to revert to equine instincts. He really didn't want to dwell on the most likely reason for it.

"As for your question, you are not disturbing me. As for my suggestion, I think you should have your Bearer of Magic help you."

Harmony was taken aback from that suggestion. How would he know that Twilight could be helpful? On that matter it brought him back to the night of the Choosing. He was missing something but he knew not what it could be.

Golden Heart seemed to know what was going through Harmony mind as he continued with a small smile forming," It's my business to know what goes on in Hourglass. Your Bearer of Magic seems to have a fascination with books. Every time she explores a ruin she brings out books. Just books. Now I don't know her occupation but I suspect that she is a teacher, scholar, or a librarian.

"Part time librarian and scholar." Harmony chuckled slightly blushing.

Golden Heart's smile only widened at that. "Then she might be of some use to this project."

Harmony thought for awhile weighing his options, the pro and cons of getting her involved. Seeing nothing wrong with his suggestion and since he was running out of ideas he reluctantly agreed. "Okay, Golden Heart, I will go get her."

"She was in the northeast residential district last I saw her." Golden Heart smirked when he caught Harmony's expression.

Harmony caught himself once he noticed Golden Heart hiding a smile which only seem to increase in reaction. "Uh. Thanks, Golden Heart, that will speed up the search."

He didn't need Golden Heart to tell him where she was. Given that she was wearing the Element of Magic it would be easy to latch on to its unique magical signature. But he knew that the dragon needed to feel useful.

 _Useful…_ He thought. A tingling sensation went down his spine. Harmony not wanting to give away anything on what he was feeling so he quickly exited the library.

He cast the tracking spell and wait a moment for it to hone in on the Element of Magic's signature. In a moment he could feel the faint trail coming from the Element. Golden Heart was right she was in the northwest district. Not wanting to deal with the maze of streets and dead ends caused by collapsed buildings and deep sink holes he took off flying.

After rising a few hundred feet into the air he began to fly in the direction of the signal. Something ahead caught his eye and he turn a bit to a better view. He shook his head in amusement once he saw that it was a cyan pegusus with a rainbow mane and tail snoozing on a cloud below him. He banked back a bit to avoid waking her with his shadow.

The trail grew stronger as he reached the edge between the step pyramids buildings and the lowly squarish buildings that would have been mostly residential dwellings. At this point he dived downward to land to finish the search from the ground.

At that very moment, Twilight was preparing to leave another home. Her search was not very fruitful that day. In the past six buildings she searched all she found was decaying remnants of books that she previously found. She was trying to find books that would help her figure out the languages of the people who once inhabited the city. She was well verse in ancient languages given her long studies on magic but the scripts here must be older or this civilization never traded much with ancient Equestria.

So far, though, she had discovered up to four distinctive written scripts that could be a language she knew or maybe they were ones not known she wasn't sure. Discord and Harmony probably could help but both have been MIA for a month now. The library could possibly have what she needed but Harmony's warning was enough for her to avoid the public library and try and find the answers in private libraries.

She grumbled in frustration before stepping outside and slamming into something. She lost her balance and stumbled backwards and fell onto her haunches.

"Oops, sorry there Bearer of Magic."

Twilight's head was swimming too much to understand who was speaking but she did managed to squeak out a response, "It's okay I wasn't really paying attention." At that point she shook her head to clear the remaining fuzziness and looked up to see that is was the rainbow alicorn Harmony. "Uh it's you Harmony…We haven't seen you in nearly a month."

"Not surprising given that I have been in a bunker trying to find out how shadow demons managed to invade Hourglass."

"We are in the middle of the ruins of a fallen civilization." Twilight stated what she thought was obvious.

"Ruins, yes. Fallen civilization, yes. Without defenses to protect its secrets, no. I didn't just pick Hourglass because of its isolated location. Hourglass has a very sophisticated defense system that should have repelled most of the shadow demons."

"Oh."

"Come. He of Hourglass has suggested that I recruit you as fresh eyes and magic to see if you can help me find out why a functioning system failed."

Harmony lead her back to the center of the city. She stared at the library for a while before Harmony brought her back. He knew what she was thinking but now wasn't the time for that.

Once he got her attention he warned her not to reveal anything she was about to see. After she agreed he lead her into the council building through a side door. They began walking down a series of hallways and secret doors. She tried to keep track of the route but she got lost after the fifth secret panel.

Harmony raised an eyebrow at seeing Golden Heart standing there waiting. He didn't think Golden Heart would be that interested in what would amount to be boring troubleshooting. Not only that but how did he find his way into the secret bunker. He inwardly shrugged not really in the best of moods for dwelling on oddities knowing how Twilight dealt with such problems: lists.

"Okay let's start with the basic gem machinery troubleshooting."

Harmony rolled his eyes glad that Twilight couldn't see his expression. Golden Heart could and show off his fangs. Harmony raise an eyebrow at this but said nothing before turning to face Twilight. "Wouldn't hurt."

Twilight pulled out a roll of parchment, ink, and a quill from her saddlebag and started writing a list. Harmony rolled his eyes a second time but waited nonetheless. Both keepers waited patiently for the next few minutes as she scribbled and muttered as she went over the list at least three times.

She eyed the list a final time before she nodded happily. "Okay ready. Let's begin with the power gems."

Harmony pulled a large panel underneath the control table revealing an assortment of glowing crystals.

"Wait stop. How did you know those are the power gems?"

"Well besides the fact that I studied this equipment for weeks? I have been to Hourglass many times in the past and don't think I didn't take a look at this then." He finished his inspection and replaced the panel, " _Of course, it was working the last time…_ "

"No cracks or burnt out gems."

"Okay, is power reaching the control table?" Twilight checked off _cracked power gems_ and _burnout power gems_ from her list.

Harmony slid under the table and started examining the wires with his magic. Twilight knew this part would take a bit so she turned to take a look at Golden Heart. The loss of Spike was still fresh in her mind but she also knew that he wasn't completely gone with Golden Heart. The problem was she hardly knew him. Besides the night of the Choosing and the visit three days later she never got a chance to see how much Spike was within him.

Golden Heart seemed to notice that she was watching him instead of Harmony as he spoke," Ascended One, is there something you need to speak to me about?"

"Uh…" Twilight mumbled not sure what to say or if she could safely speak without flubbing. She started and stopped several times before completely stopping.

From underneath the table came the slightly muffled voice of Harmony, "Bearer of Magic it's not wise to not answer a dragon when they pose a question."

Twilight paled visibly which was remarkable as the room they were in was darkened. The only light coming from the soft glow of control gems and the ever flowing sparks from Golden Heart both of which was not adequate to see much. Her blood went cold and she started to shiver. Golden Heart reached out and carefully ran his claws through her mane to try and calm her.

"Please relax. I will not harm you." He lowered his voice to a whisper and looked around in a exaggerated conspiratorial way, "He of Harmony is just jealous that you are allowed to be more slack in manners than normal."

"I heard that He of Hourglass." Harmony chuckled pulling himself out from under the table.

Golden Heart shrugged winking at Twilight who stifled a giggle with her hoof. Harmony facehoofed, groaning. He stood up and dusted himself off waiting for Twilight to calm down.

"Well all the wires are still properly connected. Also there are no short circuits or crossed wires."

For the next hour Twilight would list a possible problem area and Harmony would check finding everything in working order. While Golden Heart remained calm through it all Harmony only got more frustrated.

Harmony closed another panel before turning to Twilight. His frustrated leaked through as he stated, "Like before I can't find anything wrong with the equipment."

"Maybe all it needs is recalibration."

"Quite possible, but I have no idea how to do that… I…" Harmony was cut off by a very angry, feral growl coming from Golden Heart.

"Uh…" Twilight stammered out noticing the reddening sparks coming off of Golden Heart.

Harmony recognized the signs and whispered softly, "Bearer of Magic something is approaching Hourglass."

Twilight shook a bit in fear but had the nerve to actually ask the question. "And how would he know?"

"Because, Ascended One, a dragon's magic can detect when an intruder approaches or breaches the border of its territory." Golden Heart now responded still growling.

"The rock from before?" Twilight mused looking at Harmony.

Golden Heart had no idea what she was talking about so he assumed that Harmony would understand. Harmony, however, was also lost. Twilight facehoofed.

"Huh?" Harmony finally responded even if he was still lost. Twilight gave him a _Really?_ look. His expression lightened as he suddenly remembered. "Oh, yes, exactly."

Golden Heart didn't wait any longer and waltz out of the control room. Harmony ran after him with Twilight taking the rear.

"Bearer of Magic gather the other Bearers I don't want them wandering around with a possible threat." Harmony called back as he turned a corner.

"What of Discord?" Twilight asked nearly tripping over some debris in the darkened corridor as the red light from Golden Heart made it difficult to see much.

"One, he can take care of himself. Two he knows the city very well as he grew up here. Three, he is also a Keeper." Harmony responded while slamming a door ahead open so fast as to bust it off its hinges. Golden Heart didn't slow down and shoved the broken pieces aside in his rush.

As Twilight stepped through she noticed that they were in what appeared to be a back entrance to possibly the council's main chambers. Golden Heart jumped down from the raised council bench. Cracks formed from where he had landed. Harmony and Twilight followed close behind gliding down using their wings. The dragon pushed opened the ornate doors and rushed through the main lobby.

"Bring them to the Spiral Spire." Golden Heart commanded as green nearly transparent wings shimmered into existence on his back.

"Why there?" Twilight asked Harmony as Golden Heart had already taken off.

Harmony facehoofed. "Central location, less buildings to be blown up on top of you. Now GO!" With that Harmony flung Twilight into the air with his magic.


	5. Falling Star

"Where is that draconequus?"

"This is the third Changeling invasion again!" Rainbow shouted in frustration.

"Or my wedding." Rarity grumbled.

"Will you drop that! He is a Keeper and does not require supervision. This is a dragon problem so He of Hourglass is taking the lead. Although…" Harmony stopped as he began to wonder where Discord went to. He hadn't seen him since shortly after the Choosing. Just another thing of an increasing long list of things for him to deal with.

"I think I see something!" Rainbow Dash shouted. She started to lift off but was held back by Applejack.

"Noh so phas." Applejack objected her voice muffled by Rainbow's tail.

Harmony looked skyward in the direction that Rainbow was pointing. He could see a purple dot that was most likely He of Hourglass. Near that was a sickly red dot that was moving about erratically. It was still too far for his magic to effectively see better details but he could at least tell that He of Hourglass was following the red dot.

"What is he doing?" Harmony wondered outloud.

"Harmony?"

Harmony didn't respond he was too busy tracking the movements of the red object and He of Hourglass. He lit his horn to try the sight amplification spell again. He could finally make out what the red dot was. It was an adolescent dragon. That made little sense an adolescent dragon would not normally set off territory wards.

He wasn't sure given the distance but the dragon appeared to be injured. Given the erratic movement he didn't think the dragon would last much longer. Suddenly, the dragon seemed to lose consciousness and started falling, fast.

"Bearer of Magic, shield, now!"

Twilight didn't need to be told twice. She quickly conjured a purple shield that surrounded the girls. Harmony stood protectively in front with his horn glowing in preparation.

At impact a dust cloud rushed towards them. Harmony shut his eyes to it with his hooves helping in blocking. Coughing a little, he blinked to see that the dragon had skidded through the streets before coming to a stop in front of him in an elongated crater. He had definitely came down full speed.

He of Hourglass roughly landed, running a steps before coming to a full stop. His wings shimmered a moment before disappearing. Rainbow Dash's, who was the only one besides Harmony who was paying attention to He of Hourglass, jaw dropped. Harmony could almost see the rage pouring off of him. The question was why he didn't attack earlier and why he seemed to still be holding it back. His line of thoughts were interrupted.

"Is…" Fluttershy stuttered peeking around Applejack. "Is… he..."

Harmony peered downward at the motionless body in the crater. The head of the dragon was obscured by broken cobblestones. He could barely see that the dragon was breathing weakly, "Is he dead? No. He should be though with the amount and type of injuries."

Something was familiar about this dragon. But he wasn't sure. Careful he lifted the dirt burying the head so he could examine his features. Recognition came the moment he cleared the head of debris. "Garble!?"

"Garble? As in Garble, Garble?" Twilight didn't like that dragon but even this was… extreme.

"How can you possibly tell that? This dragon has so many injuries his mother couldn't' recognize him… _or want him._ " Rainbow Dash smirked a bit. She didn't like him either and while she knew what ever happen to him wasn't cool a joke at his expense was.

"You're not far off Bearer of Loyalty at least for the wanting part…" Rainbow suddenly went red and saw something intriguing on the ground. "As for how I can, lets list them: red scales, overbite fangs, torn wings, and orange frills. If that is too generic he bears a very specific mark. As for a dragon's mother she could tell by smell or magic… at least until the Choosing…"

"But, darling, he's covered in 'marks!' None of which that I can see are particularly… unique."

"This 'mark' is a magical mark that only a dragon or myself can see..." Harmony trailed off as he suddenly realized something. Liting his horn he scanned the dragon and found why He of Hourglass didn't kill him outright. He visibly paled, "Something is very wrong…"

"What do you mean?" Twilight tried not to let Harmony's lighten fur get her to pale as well.

"For starters he was not allowed to leave the Dragon Migration."

"Wait, I thought that was once in a generation." Twilight was confused how would that be so frightening to Harmony.

Harmony was already feeling a headache coming. He really needed to start Twilight's education but he had other priorities to deal with first. "The dragon migration is always going on it just doesn't pass through Equestria but once every fifty or sixty years. Enough about that… Take a look Bearer of Magic, and tell me what you see."

She gasped before darkly adding, "dark magic."

"Exactly. He of Hourglass that was what you felt, correct?" He of Hourglass nodded slowly," I suspect that the dark magic overwhelmed the dishonor mark otherwise He of Hourglass would have had a different response and Garble would have likely lost his life."

"But that's barb-" The rest of Rarity's retort was cut off by a glittering aura around her mouth.

Harmony eyed the aura. It made no sense as dragons don't have auras. The closest was when they use fire based magic.

"I strongly suggest you shut it." He of Hourglass let his fangs show visibly through a scowl. His claws outstretched sparks flowing from it towards Rarity's mouth.

 _Interesting… Maybe the sparks are a representation of his magical field. Better not let Twilight know this._

"A mark of dishonor is the highest form of shame a dragon can have. Death would have been a more preferable option." Harmony explained seeing that He of Hourglass was done talking.

"What did he do?"

"Dishonor me."

"Huh?!"

Harmony sighed heavily before speaking, "For the moment there is not much we can do. He of Hourglass, I would not normally ask you of this but given the circumstances…"

"It's your mark not mine He of Harmony however the presence of dark magic in his wounds does concern me as well. Let me know the moment you find out anything of value. I don't think I need to tell you but I will for the others. _Keep him away from the library._ " With that He of Hourglass stomped away cleary in anger towards the library.

"How rude." Rarity shifted her head slightly into the air before turning to find Harmony right behind her with a cold stare.

"Bearer of Generosity, once we get Garble stable, you and I are going to have a private chat."

Rarity gulped unladylike she remembered what happened that last time Harmony had a "chat" with one of them. Harmony kept up the gaze a bit longer before giving her a moments reprieve by moving around and down into the impact crater.

"Bearer of Kindness," Fluttershy squeaked in response but managed to pull herself away from the rest and step closer to Harmony who was carefully pulling Garble out of the carter, "You will need to help me take care of him until he recovers enough for me to ascertain what happened."

"But what of the dark magic?" Twilight eyed Harmony struggling to counteract both the dark magic and a dragons natural magic resistance.

"He needs stabilization and rest before we do anything about that. The stress could kill him."

* * *

"Do you know that being generous doesn't mean you have the right to being 'generous' with your opinions. In the grand scheme opinions is nothing more than trash. For somepony who values being beautiful the way you belittle people is not beautiful. All that just because they don't share you worthless idea of 'culture'".

Rarity was beginning to get a bit hot in the head. How dare this pony tell her the value of culture. Without culture how would society survive and not fall into barbarism?

"I have always despised the nobility." Harmony snorted ignoring Rarity's changing demeanor, " Want to know why?"

"You know trash is disgusting right?" Harmony continued before Rarity could interject, "An icky, smelly mess. And no matter how much you try and dress it up or try and mask it with perfume in the end it's still icky, smelly trash. Beauty without is useless without beauty within."

"With very, very, very few exceptions nobles are just like I described. 'Prince Blueblood,' _ugh_ , is the norm not the exception. You blind yourself from the truth because you care more about what they think of you, which is how much power and prestige can they get from being around you. Your friends care about what you are not what you can do for them. So I ask you what do you value? Trash or the treasures that come from true friendship?"

Rarity resolve broke as she burst into tears from the shock. She wasn't sure if it was from the rage, hurt, or from something else. Her mascara started to run staining her face.

Harmony scrunched up his muzzle in disgust at the display, "Stop your snobbery crocodile tears. They only confirm what I just said. Buck up. Start living your element and not the false facade of acting it or have you so easily forgotten the rainbow thread or how Spotlight fell in love with you? I have you know that Spotlight fell in love with you because he saw you living your element."

"How…"

"How would I know that?" Harmony leaned in and whispered, "You are a bearer of one of my elements it's my business to know these things."

At that, an uneasy silence came over the two of them. Rarity from the emotional beating; Harmony from weariness. Memories of the past flooded his mind. The warnings of the consequences if he gave up his harmony magic and placed them into the elements. In front of him was one of those consequences. He still felt it to be the right decision.

"You're still grieving over Spike's 'death'," Harmony sadly whispered breaking the silence. "Anger is an okay response. But to take that anger out on He of Hourglass is not okay."

"I…"

Harmony put a hoof to her mouth to stop her from speaking further. "Bearer of Generosity did you know there were two mares in this world that meant to world to him… so much that they both had a role in the name he chose? One was his big sister, Twilight, The other was what one would call a foalhood crush: you."

Rarity jaw dropped. The ramifications of what Harmony just said completely floored her. Her Spikey-Wikey thought that highly of her. Her poor attitude... it was just too much for her brain to process.

"But I am still serious. Time to stop acting," Harmony put a hoof to her heart," and start living it."

Rarity stood there still gaping as Harmony smirked before casually walked outside and out of sight.


	6. Dragon Quest

**** 14 years earlier somewhere on the Dragon Migration route. ****

The long flight through Equestria was unusually quiet. He had expected to have to knock some sense into some overly excited whelps. The adults usually had enough sense not to do anything rash while in Equestria. This leg was particularly special this time. The Dragon Keeper lives in a small pony village they passed over two days ago. He of Harmony had sent a letter about a year ago about his hatching. Finally after many millennia the dragons would manifest their keeper. He didn't have any luck seeing any dragons of the appropriate age in or around the village. It wasn't like there would be a lot of dragons so close to the ponies.

He wanted to stop there and check but He of Harmony had forbidden it. As He of Harmony was considered the guardian of the Dragon Keeper until he Chose he didn't push the matter. Also as Equestria was considered by right to be Harmony's territory entering it without an invite would not be wise.

He gently landed on the ledge. He casually flick a loose stone off. He about to enter the cave in front of him when he could smell an intruder within. A very familiar intruder, "He of Harmony hiding in the shadows again?"

"Sorry He of the Flight," Harmony called out stepping into the light. He eyed the ancient yellow dragon with a sigh of nostalgia. He remembered when He of the Flight was a young adult dragon just starting the dragon migration seven thousand years ago, "I do not wish to be seen right now as I'm only passing through. I really don't have the time for the usual festivities at migration stops. To your disappointment I'm sure."

He of Flight waved his claw, "and yet here you are in my cave. I could press the issue."

Harmony chuckled, "You can if you wish but I think we both know you won't. Did the Equestrian leg of the migration go well?"

"You could have sent a letter." A roar of a dragon distracted He of the Flight for a moment. He turned to look out on the gathering dragons but could see nothing that needed his immediate attention, "There is more going on. Explain."

"True, I have news." He of the Flight turned to face Harmony. "The changelings are on the move."

"Have you ascertained why?"

"Ascertained?! No. And that concerns me."

He of the Flight seemed to eye him for a bit longer then slowly turned his attention to a gathering of whelps below. "Well this is unusual."

"Unusual?!" Harmony moved to the front of the cave. "What do you mean?"

"See for yourself." He of the Flight bobbed his head down towards the crater floor.

Harmony peered downward and had to look twice. "A hatchling?" He looked back at He of Flight in confusion, "A hatchling on the Dragon Migration!?"

"That would appear to be so."

Harmony looked down and activated a hearing and seeing spell. He could now make out that the hatchling was purple and green. _Purple and green? Why does that seem familiar…_ Harmony shook his head figuring that answers would come soon enough. First thing was to figure out why a hatchling was at the Migration. He moved his focus towards the group of whelps who were talking to the hatchling.

The purple and green hatchling piped up, "Oh, well, y'see, I live in Ponyville and–"

 **"Did I just hear what I thought I heard?"**

 **"He of Harmony, I do think things just got interesting…"**

 **"What is the Dragon Keeper of Harmony doing here!?" Harmony angrily ground his teeth. He really didn't want him here. He knew there was a possibility that the Dragon Keeper would get curious about his people. He of the Flight explained to everydragon about the Dragon Keeper before the dragons went through Equestria in the small chance that if he did show up...**

A red whelp called out, "Who's up for a little belching contest?"

 **Harmony eyed the red whelp with a curious intensity, "Who is the red whelp? He appears to be the leader of the group."**

 **He of the Flight eyed the red whelp for a moment taking stock of his features, "Garble," He finally answered.**

 ** _Garble?! Sometimes I wonder about why dragons are named they way they are…_** **Harmony noticed that the hatchling belched up a rolled, sealed up parchment. He wasn't positive but he was sure that the seal was the royal seal.**

Garble grabbed the rolled up parchment and quickly broke the seal smirking as he read outloud," _From the desk of Princess Celestia. Dear Spike, please te–_ Ha! Get this, guys! Spike's pen-pals with a namby-pamby pony princess!"

 **Harmony facehoffed at seeing Garble nonchalantly throwing the letter into a lava pool. "Garble that wasn't smart…"**

 **"Wait I see two Crackles."**

 **"Crackle?"**

 **"The gem encrusted green dragon."**

 **Harmony took a look down and indeed he saw two dragons matching that description. The one near the whelps looked off. He cast a different spell and noticed that the second 'Crackle' was actually three ponies inside a dragon suit. "That is not a dragon…It's ponies in a dragon costume!" He suddenly made another connection. "Not only is the the Dragon Keeper here but if I'm not mistaken those ponies are three of my bearers."**

 **"Are they stupid? It's** ** _extremely_** **dangerous for ponies to be here."**

 **"They most likely came along to keep Spike safe. I cant see any other reason for ponies to risk life and limb to come here."**

 **"Spike?"**

 **"Spike is not a pony name. So I would gather that it is the one dragon that you don't know of. The hatchling Dragon Keeper."**

Spike chuckled nervously, "Good old tail wrestling…"

Harmony and He of the Flight could barely make out a pony whispering from within the suit, "We can't let little Spikey-wikey wrestle one of them! He'll get clobbered!"

Another pony whispered, "Let's go!" The voice deepened and called out loudly, "I challenge Spike to a tail wrestle!"

 **"Bwhahaaha… did a pony in a dragon suit say what I just heard?"**

 **"Ugh." This only caused more laughter to erupt. Harmony was silently wishing and hoping someone would relieve him of this humiliation.**

Spike wrapped his tail around fake Crackle's tail.

Garble crossed his arms before shouting "Ready. Go!"

Spike started pulling as hard as he could. After a few moments of struggling Harmony and He of the Flight could see a silent nod between two of the mares inside 'Crackle'. The fake Crackle then promptly collapse in fake exhaustion.

 **He of the Flight couldn't believe what he just saw. "Did… Did they just throw the game!?"**

 **Harmony facehoofed, "Yes."**

 **He of the Flight eyed Harmony, "Remind me again why you think ponies and dragons can get along?"**

The sound of Spike's screaming snapped them from their debate just in time to see Spike hit the the crater wall.

* * *

Garble was holding Spike while climbing a pile of gems. "So, Spike, you haven't exactly proven yourself as a dragon yet, have you?

 **"Ugh, whelps! Think they know everything about being a dragon…"**

 **"Says the alicorn…" Harmony went red in embarrassment which only made He of the Flight roar with laughter.**

Garble pushed Spike causing him to tumble down the gem pile. He bellowed out, " _King of the hoard_!"

* * *

Garble challenged,"whoever makes the biggest lava splash is the ultimate dragon!" He then made a running jump while screaming, " _Geronimo_!"

 **Even from the distance they were watching they could see Spike gulp.**

The fake Crackle slowly backed away unseen. The other whelps very quickly followed Garble off the cliff into the lava pool. At last only Spike was remaining. He really wasn't sure about jumping from the cliff. It just seem too high.

Garble yelled upward, mocking," What's wrong, Spike? You afraid the lava will hurt your soft pony hide?"

All of the whelps joined in mocking laughter even high-fiving each other. Spike rubbed his armed nervously. Spike gulped heavily then finally took a hesitate jump. He screamed as he fell. A large thwack sound reverberated the crater as he hit the lava on his belly.

"Oooh…"

 **"Okay, ouch."**

* * *

 **"** Spike, by belly flopping so hard, you have proven yourself worthy. I hereby dub you 'rookie dragon', and will now perform the initiation ritual.." Garble grabbed Spike and gave him a hearty noogie. "Rrrrgh. Now let's party _dragon style_!"

 **"'Rookie dragon' really?"**

"Great? Huh, maybe by Ponyville standards. Stick with us, Spike. We still got plenty to teach you about being a dragon."

 **"Which is a big fat zero." Harmony sarcastically stated getting a rumble of a chuckle out of He of the Flight. Harmony rolled his eyes at that before turning his attention back to the whelp dragons below.**

* * *

A loud thump woke him up. Harmony groggily got up and yawned heavily. "He of the Flight I see your back. How was the challenges?"

"To be frank boring… And are you sure you will be unable to join in? You were always able to spice up Hoard Challenges."

"One I have no hoard. Two even if I did no dragon would want my hoard anyway."

"I beg to differ…. the Elements are a great treasure."

"Are you initiating a challenge?" Harmony eyed He of the Flight with an upraised brow.

"No. I'm just making a point."

"Yeah... I know..." Harmony trailed off as he stretched. He wearily took a look at the whelps who seemed to have recovered from their party and were talking excitedly among themselves. _What are they up to…_ "...If it wasn't for the complication of Spike and the three bearers I would have left already. I really need to figure out what the changelings are up to..."

"Phoenix Raid!" The whelp yelled out excitedly high fiving and taking off. Spike attempted to keep up but tripped over a rock.

Spike called out, **"** Uh, sorry, guys! I guess I'll meet you back here at the crater! After the whole raid thing's over? We'll totally hang then! Whoahoa!"

"Better stop them He of Harmony phoenix fire is similar to a dragon's fire."

Harmony took a running jump and flew off in the direction of the nearby forest. He had to be careful as it was too soon to expose himself. He needed to wait until the Dragon Keeper was a whelp. He was already getting the Bearers ready especially the Bearer of Magic and he didn't want to disrupt that. He was getting tired of this protecting from shadows. _Soon, Spike, soon..._

* * *

"Alright, Spike. Since you're our rookie dragon, you get to lure the parents away from the nest."

Spike stammered out, "Heh... Lucky me…"

Garble lightly pushed him closer to the tree. "Well, go on then!"

Spike called out, "Hey, Mr. and Mrs. Phoenix! I was hoping I could have a word with you? Um, I'd, um, like to ask you some questions actually…"

Garble whispered giving him a small rock before rehiding, "We haven't got all day, Spike!"

"Hey, you bird brains! Come and get me!" Spike yelled before throwing the rock.

The rock arced over and landed on the male phoenix. It cawed angrily looking to see where the rock came from. It didn't take very long for the phoenix to notice Spike. Both phoenixes cawed angrily then burst into flames taking off after the quickly retreating Spike.

Harmony galloped after Spike staying hidden in the trees and underbrush. He had to think fast those phoenixes were gaining. He also couldn't reveal that something or someone helped Spike. _Sometimes I hate helping from the shadows…_ The phoenix parents suddenly heard the frantic screeching of the chicks and quickly retreated after them leaving Spike alone. Harmony silently let out the breath he had be holding.

"What happened?" Spike noticed that he wasn't burnt to a crispy. He wiped his brow of sweat and quickly jogged back to the now abandoned nest. "Huh, what have we got here?" Spike eyed the a yellow and orange egg that was lying on the ground near the phoenix nest. Carefully he picked it up to examine it.

Garble stumbled through the underbrush along with the other whelps. "They got away! Hey! _You_ stole an egg?"

"Uh…"

"Well, I guess the raid wasn't a total waste after all." Garble patted Spike's back. "Nice going, Spike."

The large brown whelp eyed him. "Well, what are you waiting for, Spike? Smash it!"

Spike asked. "Smash the egg?"

"Yeah!"

The purple whelp agreed. "Yeah, throw it on the ground as hard as you can!

The whelps started to chant. "Yeah! Smash it! Smash it! Smash it! Smash it! Smash it!"

Spike raised the the egg sweat dripping down his face. He seemed like he was about to do it when his demeanor changed. He slowly lowered his arms looking longingly at the egg. "No! It's just a defenseless egg, like I was! And I'm not gonna let you hurt it!"

Harmony peered through the trees smiling. C _ourage. Good. Looks like I don't need to do anything else here._

Garble blinked, confused, "What did you say?"

Harmony was about to walk away when he heard that. He managed to turn around just as Spike repeated, "I said no."

Garble growled threatening, "No one says no to me."

He stepped forward with his claws extended and his mouth open menacingly. Spike stepped back as Garble stepped forward. A slightly blinding light could be seen from behind Spike as he suddenly bumping into something. Looking up and back he could see the dragon that the others had identified as a relative of a dragon called 'Crackle.' The whelps stepped back in shock.

Suddenly the dragon shed its 'skin' revealing that under that was three ponies. If the sudden appearance of the 'crackle' dragon shocked the whelps the fact that it there was three ponies under a dragon costume really confused them.

A cyan pegasus with a rainbow mane angrily shouted. "Nopony's gonna lay a claw on him!"

A purple unicorn with a bluish purple mane with a pink streak agreed putting up her hoofs, "That's right!"

A white unicorn with a curly purple mane and tail casually spoke, "Fighting's not really my thing. I'm more into fashion, " She lightly flicked her mane before furiously adding, "but _I'll rip you to pieces if you touch one scale on his cute little head!_

The dragon whelps laughing uproariously. The ponies and Spike looked wearily at each other. Harmony eyed the situation trying to find out if he needed to intervene.

"Ooh, scary, hehe!" Garble jazz handed before pointing, "Spike, are these namby-pamby ponies your friends?"

Spike shot Garble an angry glance while walking up to threaten him. "Yes, they are. And they're better friends than _you_ could ever be. Now, if you don't back off, you'll see what us _ponies_ do when confronted by a huge group of _jerky_ dragons."

"Oh, yeah?" Grable snorted. "What's that?"

Spike jumped up then zoomed away as fast as he could screaming, " _Run away_!"

Garble was initially shocked at the reaction not sure of what exactly transpired. After a second he went ballistic. He lunged at Twilight trying to bite her head off but Twilight had enough sense to duck. At that the ponies turned tail and ran. Garble tried stopping them by blowing a fireball. Rarity who was was the slowest of the pack could feel the heat as the flame managed to singe a bit of her tail. She was pumped up with too much adrenaline to complain about the damage to her perfectly coiffed tail.

Twilight Sparkle grunted a bit trying to get enough concentration to teleport them out of danger. Another flame ball hurled right over their heads before she finally was able to gather enough concentration to teleport them to safety.

Garble in his frustration slashed at a nearby tree knocking it down noisily. He dropping to his knees and punched the ground.

"That was not smart Garble."

"And what's that to you?!" Garble turned to see that it was a rainbow alicorn stallion. At the sight he visibly paled and it wasn't just from the nausea at the shifting color of his coat. He had heard the stories. "He.. he of Har Harmony."

"Yes, He of Harmony. I can see that my reputation precedes me. Good."

"As for you."Harmony put on a face of scholarly boredom. "You are the whelp who nearly sliced and roasted three ponies who guard part of my 'hoard.' You also have been hanging out with a very special dragon. Now I do believe that _every_ dragon was briefed before entering Equestria, which you passed through a few days ago, about a certain village. Can you tell me the name of that village?"

"Po-Ponyville."

"You know its funny. Garble you claim to know about dragons and yet you have twice now stuttered in front of me. Talk about hypocrisy. One a dragon would not do that in front of another. Two for a dragon who thinks that ponies are I quote "namby-pamby" you sure are afraid of me."

"So tell me Garble do I look namby-pamby to you?" Harmony push his nose to Garble's snout.

Garble quickly shook his head no. Harmony snorted in contempt and back off from the now shivering whelp.

"Now tell me what is so special about Ponyville?"

Garble mumbled a bit tapping his claws together nervously.

"Sorry can't hear you." Harmony mocked.

"That if any pony or-or dragon you run into that is from Ponyville to not harass them and to notify He of the Flight immediately."

"You are missing a very tiny detail Garble. Shall I refresh you memory?" Harmony smiled evilly. Garble froze not sure if there was a right way of answering.

"THAT THE DRAGON THAT LIVES IN PONYVILLE IS THE DRAGON KEEPER OF HARMONY!" The force from his amplified voice blew back Garble. He tumbled backwards until he slammed into a tree. His head started to spin and his ears rang. A bit of blood dripped out of his snout.

Harmony waited for Garble ears to stop ringing then he got right into his snout leaving nothing in his vision but rage filled eyes. "So tell me why would you take him on a phoenix raid? A hatchling has no business on a phoenix raid."

"I… Well…"

Harmony back up a bit showing off his mock thinking face, "There is that stuttering again…" He moved back into Garble's face again, "And tell me why you were stupid enough to attack him and the three ponies with him? What was it you said? Oh, yes, I remember: 'no one says no to me.' I have a saying for you. No one steals from another dragon's 'hoard'."

"But yo-you're not a dragon…"

"Wrong. Thing. To. Say."


	7. Decontamination

_Harmony…_

 _Harmony…_

"Harmony!"

"Huh? What?" Harmony finally heard that somepony was calling for him, pulling him out of his daze. His eyes refocused and he could see that it was Fluttershy that had been trying to get his attention. Twilight must have left the room and Garble was obvious still unconscious.

"Are you alright? It seems that you have something on your mind… I mean if it's not too intrusive to ask."

"Memories…" Harmony sighed heavily before turning to take a look at Garble.

"Do you want to talk about them…I mean if that is okay…" She hid behind her mane a slight blush apparent.

Harmony had to resist the urge to roll his eyes before responding, "Bearer of Kindness you really need to stop ending every sentence with an apology."

"I'm sorry." Fluttershy again tried to hide behind her mane.

Harmony inwardly chuckled at her behavior she was calm enough to allow her shyness to come out. He was kind of glad that Garble was out for the count as he did not want to have to deal with her fear of dragons at the moment. He was not looking forward to when Garble regained consciousness.

"Please stop apologizing for non existent faults… As for talking about the memories… I would rather not speak about them… I… No…" Harmony trailed off and his eyes glazed over.

* * *

"Um... Hello?" Rarity called out into the library's main hall. Her voice echoed strangely through the halls. It did nothing to calm her jittering nerves. If any it only made them worse.

"He of Hourglass," Rarity tentatively stepped though the threshold, "Are you here?"

The main door to the library suddenly slammed shut behind her. She let out a scream before recovering herself. A few long cleansing breaths later and she lit her horn and walked down the center hall. If she remembered correctly this was the hall that led to where the dragon slept.

Rarity slowly opened the door at the end of the hall. "Hello? He of Hourglass?" She peeked in and could see that everything was like last time except no dragon and the gem pile was a bit larger. She could see some scrolls rolled out on the desk. _Maybe I should leave a note for him._

She had just finished writing a note when a voice spoke, "Didn't He of Harmony tell you not to enter a dragon's hoard without permission?"

Rarity nearly jumped out of her fur at the sudden sound of He of Hourglass' voice. "I… Well that is…"

He of Hourglass walk up towards her. Rarity backed away trying to stay calm. He shifted some papers and scrolls on the desk putting them some into drawers and others he just neatly stacked up on one corner of the desk. He then finally picked up the written note. He seemed to be dwelling on it far longer than was necessary.

He finally placed it down. He looked to see that Rarity was visibly starting to sweat her nerves were so great. "You know..." He started, "I find that working on my hoard is calming…" He of Hourglass began walking towards a door in the back of the room, "Now I know that ponies don't hoard but I think you may have some expertise in dealing with what I'm about to show you."

Suddenly he stopped and looked back over his shoulder, "You coming?"

"Of course, yes, coming!" Rarity exclaimed quickly trotting to catch up to He of Hourglass. She hoped that she wasn't walking into a death trap.

* * *

 _Harmony…_

 _Harmony…_

"Yes?" Harmony refocused again. He saw that Fluttershy currently was examining Garble. She tentatively pressed against some of the bandages which appeared darkened by the infectious looking ooze that was upon some of his more grievous injuries.

"Harmony I think the bandages need to be redone and with Twilight out and about at the moment I was wondering…"

"I doubt he will awaken, but I shall assist."

Fluttershy began to slowly cut away bandages that had been soaked in a mixture of blood and the dark ooze. As she went she whispered her usual apologizes along with soothing words. Harmony grabbed some fresh wet cloths and help cleaned the wounds as they were revealed.

"Harmony I'm not terribly familiar with dragon anatomy but these injuries are not healing like they should."

Harmony eyed the injuries. He could see the faint dark substance still oozing from some of the injuries and the dark smokiness still lingered around Garble. "I agree."

Harmony went into a deep thought for a while muttering nonsense. Fluttershy used that time to rebind Garble's injuries. Soon Garble was rebandaged leaving her to worriedly look at both him and Harmony. Suddenly Harmony went silent. Fluttershy noticed this and look up at him to see that he was gazing thoughtfully at her. She hid behind her mane unsure of what the sudden silence could mean. He gaze wasn't one that would concern a normal pony but she hardly knew Harmony and was still shy around him.

"Bearer of Kindness I think I can fix that. The dark magic seems to have inhibited his ability to heal. It definitely was quite powerful to linger on a dragon for this long. I must wait for the Bearer of Magic to return before doing anything. Removing dark magic is dangerous and I do not know the reaction his body will have during that process."

* * *

"These are gorgeous!" Rarity gushed trying not to squeal in delight or faint from the excitement.

"Yes… they are." The dragon smiled brightly for a moment before letting a neutral face creep back into his features. "But as you can see there is some deterioration and fading. Also there is some contamination on some of them. Any suggestions for restoration?"

Rarity gently ran the material through her hoofs before answering, "I would have to examine the tapestries more closely to see what was use to weave them as well as find out what contaminated them to determine the best way to clean them."

* * *

"So let me get this right..."Twilight mused running Harmony's plan in her head for the twentieth time, " You are going to draw out the dark magic from Garble and into yourself!? ARE YOU CRAZY!?"

"Yes."

"I rest my case: crazy."

"Bearer of Magic this type of dark magic can't be just simply dispelled…"

"Why can't we use the Elements?"

"What part of can't be dispelled did you not get?"

"Then at least let me help." Twilight moved forward closer to Garble.

Harmony put a hoof out to block Twilight. "No, Bearer of Magic, the mark forbids others other than myself helping him. So he is my responsibility not yours."

"Gah dragons and their codes!"

"You have no idea…" Harmony rubbed his temples. _You have no idea..._

Not giving Twilight another moment to protest Harmony lit his horn and began to slowly tug at a tendril of dark magic. As soon as he pulled it off he quickly neutralized it. He would then take a breath and begin to pull another one off.

Garble started to thrash about the reaction to the change in his magic field. His strength was so great that he broke all of the leather straps holding him down. Twilight's horn shined brightly as she attempted to get the limbs to stay down magically.

Fluttershy cowered in the corner from fear from the sight of one of her best friends and Harmony struggling. Twilight tried to block another blow but was hit from behind by the whelp's tail. The fur started to redden from blood from the welt nearly five inches long.

" _Hold him still_." Harmony gritted through a clenched jaw from the strain.

"I'm trying!" Twilight ducked as Garble's left arm swung at her. She grunted hard and managed to get her magic around the loose arm and forced it back down.

Harmony could feel his magic straining to its limit. There was still a bit more dark magic to pull and neutralize. He just had to hold one a bit longer. So again he took a breath and once more pulled. Harmony's horn momentarily sputtered out before he redoubled his effort. _Come on don't fail me now… Just a bit more…_ He pulled his head back in an attempt to try and get the final magic tendril to snap off. In agonising slow motion the final tendril clinging to Garble finally lifted off.

"I… I… Think that will do..." Harmony's world went dark as he collapsed.

"Harmony!"

Fluttershy quickly rushed over to examine Harmony, "He's breathing."

"Overdid, you have." Discord smirked.

"Where have you been?!" Twilight nearly yelled before Fluttershy put a hoof on her.

Discord rubbed his face in exasperation," What have part of me being a Keeper and not needing supervision did you not get?"

"Discord have you been eavesdropping again?" Fluttershy asked sounding disappointed.

"Flutters I don't need to eavesdrop to assume that Harmony gave you the whole 'he can take care of himself and dragon problem' speech blah, blah, blah…"

"And how is dark magic only a dragon problem?" Twilight countered.

"Dark magic?" Discord looked at Garble then back at Harmony who was still passed out and then literally lost all of his color going completely white. "I… I… I... need to go."

Twilight looked at Fluttershy who eeped in response.

* * *

"Um, He of Hourglass…"

The dragon in question turned to face her. His gaze was light and curious but it didn't make Rarity any more comfortable. The tapestry mending gave her an excuse for stalling. But it also reminded her of when Spike would help her in her shop. That of course brought back what Harmony had recently revealed. She could no longer stand the conflicted emotions running through her head. Given that she couldn't talk about the memories of her and Spike she could at least get rid of the feelings of shame for her outburst against He of Hourglass.

"Yes?"

"I want to apologize for my earlier uncouth behavior."

"Uncouth?" He of Hourglass smirked. He then snorted which got Rarity to snort in anger. Her reaction only got him to laugh louder. " Un. Couth?! You thought your behavior was 'uncouth'! That… that is the funniest thing…" He stopped there the laughter overriding his ability to speak. _I said it once and I'll say it again. You really have some interesting Bearers He of Harmony._

After a few moments of wheezing, coughing, and relapses into laughter he got serious. "Bearer of Generosity in all serious your behavior two days ago wasn't 'uncouth' to me. The rage I had was never directed at you or the other bearers. If you need to apologize for 'uncouth' behaviour you will need to talk to He of Harmony. However try to keep your outbursts in front of dragons to an extreme minimum. Most will not be as understanding as I."

To prove his point he pointed out an earlier incident, "I called that pegasus 'a pony with spunk' and she was about to call me a lizard for 'attacking' He of Harmony. You were about to call out that the killing of another with the mark of dishonor as barbaric."

"I… um…" Rarity stammered out an embarrassed blush forming.

If He of Hourglass noticed this he made no indication of it as he continued, "There are probably things that are acceptable and expected in your culture that I would find barbaric."

At that he went silent and went back to cleaning some dirt off of a silk tapestry. Rarity couldn't think of a response so she too went back to work trying to identify a mysterious bluish green stain on a tapestry depicting the Spiral Spire.

After a moment though He of Hourglass stopped and looked out one of the windows, "Interesting… The dark magic as lifted."

"What does that mean?" Rarity looked up herself a bit confused at He of Hourglass' remark.

"No idea. But I think you best get back to the others."


	8. Golden Journal 3

centerstrongFrom the Journals of Golden Heart, He of Hourglass, Dragon Keeper of Harmony. /strong/centercenterstrongEntry #3 /strong/centercenteremspan style="text-decoration: underline;"(Unknown)/span/em/center  
blockquoteIt appears that the minions of the 'Nameless One' are on the move. Earlier an adolescent dragon with grievous wounds infected with dark magic crash landed in Hourglass.  
p class="double"Besides the dark magic infecting him he also had the mark of dishonor on him. He of Harmony's dishonor mark to be exact. It would be highly unusual for a whelp to have the mark of dishonor. For a non dragon to give a dishonor mark- According to the mark he should not have left the Dragon Migration. That is another oddity about the mark. But then again, dishonor marks on whelps means there is a chance at redemption… If he had only stay within the parameters set by the mark. The dark magic though stayed my claw./p  
p class="double"If he was attacked while on the dragon migration the consequences for the migration could be- no that would be senseless conjecture. This is going to be a headache, I know. Sadly I will know nothing more until the whelp awakens. At least the dark magic has dissipated. No doubt by He of Harmony's hooves or horn. I really did not like having to quell that much dragon instinct for so long./p  
p class="double"I hope that whatever He of Harmony did can save him so we get some answers. The location of the migration is too far away to investigate first hand. That's at least what Dragon Heritage Memories are telling me, and that is if the routes haven't recently changed. I will need to double check with He of Harmony he should know if the routes have changed in a way as to not reflect in the memories./p  
p class="double"He of Harmony, there is just something about him. If I didn't know better I could have claw sworn that he was a dragon. But that is not all that has me wondering. I need to head into Council of Harmony. I'm certain the answers I seek lie there./p  
p class="double"Until then may your claws stay sharp and your fire roar./p  
/blockquote 


	9. The Puzzle of the Element of Magic

Discord pulled on his beard, deep in thought. For hours he had sat there on his throne in the Council Chambers like that. He rarely went into thought like this. To do so could make it more difficult for him to use his magic. He wasn't a strategist he could never make plans. Well, he could, but not complex ones. Harmony on the other hand spent most of his waking hours like that. He had to figure out how to deal with the situation without revealing that Harmony's condition was never cured. The Bearers and more specifically Twilight would undoubtable focus their attention on Harmony than on the coming darkness.

He had hoped that after nearly dying in the Untamed Wilds that Harmony would avoid dangerous situations that would aggravate his condition. As soon as he felt the magic disturbance in Hourglass he knew that something had happened. What he didn't know was that Harmony had been foolishly dealing with dark magic. He of Hourglass could have help. By Tartarus, even he could have helped, but no, he had to do it alone.

The sound of the door opening pulled Discord out of his musings. He looked up to see that the spark dragon known to him only as He of Hourglass had entered. He could see from the sparks flowing off of him that something was disturbing him. The sparks should be flowing freely off of him but right now they seem to swirl and pause before finally falling off and disappearing.

"Dragon Keeper what brings you here?" Discord curiosity peaked.

"He of Harmony. I sensed the lifting off of the dark magic from the dishonored one. But I also detected something else..."

"He of Harmony has Magic Wasting Disease." Discord gave him the answer and , as par for him, interrupted what was probably going to a boring description. "Uncommon for non dragons and as long as he doesn't aggravate it's non lethal, crippling, but non lethal…" Discord seemed to be a bit irritated toward the end.

He of Hourglass was confused at He of Laughter's reaction. The disease did explain the oddity of what he detected as the dark magic lessen and disappeared altogether. The anger over it was unusual. The disease was one of the curses on mainly the dragons races however he doubted that he would know that. The curse or disease as it is called artificially ended a dragon's life near the fifteen to twenty thousand year mark. It was a problem that he would need to fix as it was lethal for dragons. Apparently it was not for other races so back to why the irritation over He of Harmony having it.

"Gah, I'll be glad when I leave this story…" Discord trailed off. After a few moments he noticed that He of Hourglass had a look of complete confusion. Discord waved his hands dismissively, "Forget that last statement only two other beings would have gotten it anyway… Well so will the readers but that is besides the point."

He of Hourglass only raised an eyebrow to that clearly not sure of what the draconequus was going on about. He of Laughter was going to get on his nerves. _It may be time for everyone to leave my territory but not before I get my answers about He of Harmony and the dishonored one._ "Okay enough of the randomness. I get that He of Harmony has Magic Wasting Disease… Something else about He of Harmony…He seems…"

"Ah so you noticed that he seems so unpony like and more dragon like too?"

The dragon's maw dropped a bit at Discord accurate assumption. Discord took note of this and sighed heavily while slumping on his throne. He rubbed his eyes a bit before looking through his hands to see He of Hourglass staring at him quizzically. "Harmony is…"

"Harmony is known in all the lands and he has good relations with all of the races but the equines. Very few equines have ever heard of him much less seen him. His Bearers didn't even know of him until a few months ago. He may be King of Equestria but I'm sure that a box of donuts has more donuts in it then ponies that are aware that the Kingdom of Equestria has a king."

Discord grabbed a donut from behind his ear and dunked it into a coffee mug that he snapped into his hand. "Hypothetical question," He started before taking a bite out his donut. "Hmmm raspberry…"

He of Hourglass facepalmed at He of Laughter's continuing randomness. What had this to do with being dragon-like? As he was in the Council of Harmony he had to keep in check his natural dragon tendencies to not tolerate this kind of behavior. Here he was equal with He of Laughter and had to treat him with the respect that was due of a Keeper. Figuring it was going to be a bit he sat down on an empty throne wrapping his tail in front of him.

Discord finished his donut then took a sip of his coffee before finally continuing, "Harmony has spent nearly half of his nearly ten thousand year life with the dragons. Do you know why? I don't. I can only speculate that he believes that there is something the dragons are missing or that something the dragons have that the ponies are missing…"

A box of animal crackers appeared in front of Discord. He pulled out two animal crackers one that was an alicorn the other a dragon. The crackers came to life and started to struggle against his tight grip. He quickly chopped off the pony head leaving its body to twitch. The dragon squeaked out a mini roar trying to bite Discord's hand. Discord yelped when the dragon cracker finally managed to bite his clawed hand. Discord cursed before snatching the now fleeing dragon from the air and eating the dragon's wings before dunking it into the coffee he still had. He of Hourglass went a bit green watching Discord sadistically mutilating the crackers. He was glad he was a strict gem and greens eater.

Discord brushed off some crumbs before he continued, "As I'm sure you know the Dragon Migration is a new phenomenon something that is only been going on roughly seven thousand years. I suspect that Harmony's influence on the dragon races had something to do with it."

"He has his hooves in nearly every pie as the expression goes… ooo rhubarb all I need is some ice cream!" Discord greedily dug into the pie, "Don't tell Flutters she'd give me the Stare for stress eating… Gah! I'm turning into Celestia…" A seven tiered MMMM cake appeared which he promptly shooed away, "except she eats cake…"

"Where was I? Oh, yes! No Keeper before him had ever done as much for bringing the light of harmony back into this world and its people. No Keeper went as far as he did to help to races beside those in his charge. I suspect that he is the only nondragon to be a 'friend' to dragons since the dark days prior to the sealing of the 'Chaos Bringer' though I do believe it's 'Nameless One' to your kind."

"I'm getting way too old for this..." Discord snapped his paw and he suddenly look old and wrinkled. A cane in his claw and and false teeth half dangling out of his mouth. He quickly pushed the false teeth back into place before speaking again, "Finally my magic is working correctly!"

"Are you going to continue being chaotic or will you get to the point." He of Hourglass's sparks were starting to redden.

"The point? The point…" Discord pulled on his beard trying to remember what he was going to talk about, "Ah, the point!"

"I gave you some of the puzzle pieces on the matter. I like riddles and puzzles but I find it frustrating when I'm trying to solve one then giving one…" Discord quickly showed the dragon a newspaper. Over the Manehattan Times Crossword Discord had crudely drawn an angry face in red dripping ink. He then casually threw the thing away into a trash can that wasn't there before. "Harmony is an enigma and is difficult to understand… Of course so am I but for different reasons..."

A feral draconic growl got him back on track, "Let me ask do you know what attributes of Harmony he has?" Discord produced mock cardboard cutouts of the Bearers cutie marks and set them lazily floating in front of them. "Generosity. Loyalty. Honesty. Kindness. Joy… All of those traits Harmony is… But Harmony has another... commonly known as Magic…" This time he had a crystalline replica of the Magic Element, "A very poor name for the element slash trait. Magic has nothing to do with harmony. True there is harmony magic but magic in general is just that magic nothing harmonical about it…"

"As far as I can tell the trait is ambiguous. That is unusual, unique actually. I'm not sure what yours are and may take a bit for them to manifest. I'm not sure given my lack in the knowledge of dragon magic... Every harmony trait that has manifested within a Keeper has or had was or is precise, known. Every one but his central Element."

"I suspect that the key to understanding Harmony lies with the solving the puzzle of that Element." Discord pulled out a key ring with lots of rings jiggling on it. He fiddled with it for a moment before snapping it out of existence.

"There is one other thing you need to know about Harmony." Discord stood up from his throne and stood in the midst of the thrones, "It's something I do with every Keeper. At first I had to do it by 'feel.' A sort of a modification of my ability to sense magical imbalances… Anyway it's a bit easier now if a bit morbid."

Discord shouted a question, "Is the Alicorn Keeper in harmony?"

 **The Alicorn Keeper is not in harmony.** A chorus of voices echoed out.

"Wait… what? How is that possible?" The dragon nearly fell off of his throne from the combined shock of the revelation and the sudden use of the Council. He growled angrily at Discord for using that function without warning him.

"They are correct…not sure how. My only guess is that mysterious sixth element of his," Discord shrugged, "I've asked that question about Harmony every couple hundred years and never once has he ever been in harmony… Never before except under extreme duress has a Keeper failed at being what they represent. Like I said Harmony is an enigma and an oddity."

Silence came upon both as they dwell on their respective thoughts. While both were on Harmony He of Hourglass was trying to figure out why He of Harmony seems so dragon-like. Discord on the other hand was trying to figure out why the dragon would be so interested in Harmony.

He of Hourglass got up to look outward into the Plane from one of the windows as he really didn't want the distraction of the chaotic draconequus. He of Laughter had only gave him more questions than answers. He was curious about the sixth element but that was a lesser priority. Why was He of Harmony so into the ways of the dragons? Some of what He of Laughter said made sense to what he knew of He of Harmony from his Keeper memories. Something told him he would need to talk to He of Harmony personally.

Discord suddenly called out, "Is the Dragon Keeper in harmony?"

 **The Dragon Keeper is not in harmony.**

"Interesting..." Discord mused. He then noticed that He of Harmony was making his way to the chamber doors, "Hey where are you going I'm not done…"

"Doing my duty as a keeper." He of Hourglass growled as he noisily exited the council chambers and into the Plane of Harmony.

Discord scratched his head in confusion "'…Duty as a keeper'?! Want ever does he mean?"


	10. Reawakenings

_I did nothing!_

 _SPIIIIIIIKE!_

 _Some Keeper of Harmony you are…. You broke harmony..._

 _I could have saved him..._

 _No. You killed him._

 _SPIIIIKE!_

 _Murderer…_

 _No._

 _Yessssss! MWAHAHAHAAAAA!_

Harmony nearly lept out of bed. Cold sweat poured down his head, dripping into his eyes. He blinked hard to get the salty sweat out of his eyes. Once his vision cleared he could see that he was in the small house that he had been using as a base of operation in Hourglass. Sitting calmly on the wall was Discord reading a book and wearing squarish reading glasses on his muzzle. A small fire crackled in the fireplace.

"How long this time?" Harmony shoved the blankets off the dampness of them chilling him. He gazed upwards to see that at minimum night had fallen.

Discord snapped the book and glasses away before speaking, "Three days."

"Do they know?" Discord jaw moved but he seemed to not be able to respond. Harmony was not happy with the delay so he forcibly pulled Discord towards him with his magic, "Do they know!?"

Harmony started coughing. Discord face scrunched up in worry. Harmony had used magic too soon after recovering from his most recent burnout. This was not good if the dark magic from Garble accelerated the disease this far again.

"No." Discord finally responded as Harmony fit died down. "They just think the dark magic knocked you out and not the Magic Wasting Disease resurfacing from the strain."

Harmony breathed a sigh of relief. "Good. Keep it that way."

Discord was getting annoyed. Harmony was doing it again. "I don't think you should hide this."

"They are going to have enough to worry about don't add my health to it." Harmony didn't like hiding it either. It was like a war within him. It hurt to not be honest with them. Kindness told him that it would be unwise to needlessly worry them. Without a dragon to help (unlikely given the way they were) there really was nothing that could be done. Joy went with Kindness and Loyalty sided with Honesty. The remaining two stayed silent. For the moment Harmony put those thoughts to the side as a more pressing matter was at hand.

The matter of Garble and the dark magic. It was no ordinary dark magic for it couldn't be dispelled. Very few magic users would know how to properly do a spell like that. Then to get it to linger on a magic resistant species was a feat of extreme power. Sombra could have produce the level of dark magic for the dark smoky aura. Of course Sombra was long dead so that left him out. The Crystal Heart made sure of that. Still… He would need to have the lands surrounding the Crystal Empire searched, again. That left the dark magic that was oozing out his wounds. He could think of a multitude of things that could have caused it. Most likely a dark magic infused weapon over something like an amulet... Which would mean a search spanning the entire world.

"There just isn't enough of us." Harmony mused, frustration etched upon his face.

"I know, Harmony. It was never meant for this to happen…" Discord sighed heavily. "It is going to make our task all the more difficult. All the more for you to stay alive!"

Harmony's anger flared up to the point that he was now standing on the bed. "Don't remind me Discord! Why must we go through this _everytime_!"

"Because you keep going out of your way to get yourself hurt!"

"Because we are stretched thin! Why do you think I did what I did with the Elements? I didn't just think one day I wonder if I could put my harmony magic into six bobble for kicks! What could possibly go wrong! I was stacking the deck! Hoping for a Hail Mary! Anything to give us the advantage in the coming war!"

Discord's face suddenly appeared clownish, "Schemers trying to control their little worlds. I'm not a schemer. I try to show the schemers how pathetic their attempts to control things really are…"

Harmony immediately saw through that one. He was not in the mood for it. "Really of all times you decide to do a fourth wall reference!?"

Discord quickly wiped off the makeup. "If that is what it takes! Harmony plans can go awry. Not everything will be in a neat orderly package. Alicorns are beings that thrive on order; draconequus on chaos. You can't have complete order just like you can't have complete chaos. It doesn't work that way."

 _Not the Chaos Order argument again!_ Harmony growled in frustration. Discord concern for his health blinded him to the big picture. Typical. "I _know_ that. War may be chaotic but they are won on order. To win you must press every advantage and turn disadvantages around or minimize them… seeing movements in the battlefield knowing when where and how to strike and retreat and knowing how your opponent will do so."

Discord face remained blank so Harmony pressed on. "A chess game can seem chaotic but both players are planning ahead trying to figure out the moves before they happen… order… a chaotic mind can't effectively play chess. Nor can they win wars outside of luck, pure chance. We can't save this world by playing on pure chance… chance is part of it true but you and I aren't willing to leave it to pure chance! The risk is too high!"

"Chess!? War!? What are you blabbering about?!" Discord bellowed. After the heat of his angry outburst subsided he stammered out, "Why hasn't the Chaos Bringer left his prison?"

"Finally you are thinking! I don't know and I don't like Seal, as I understand, should have broken at He of Hourglass' Choosing." Harmony answered. A thought occurred to him. "What do you know of Hydra Hourglass?"

Discord rubbed his temple trying to massage his headache away. "Not much I'm afraid. Between the chaotic leyonic magic and the endless storms... I never could get close enough to get a good look."

"Same here… I am not sure if its because it is always like that or the magic of It's prison… Which makes it difficult to see if there is a reason for the Dark One's delay. Let's just hope that its only finding a way out of the storms and not biding It's time."

Neither one had anything more to add. The fight had drained them. When they got into fights. Discord always went overprotective while Harmony always seem to take on the 'role' of wild carefree brother. Not that Harmony was wild or carefree. He just always felt like he was being treated as such. He wasn't carfree or wild if anything remotely like that. Harmony was more protective than Discord was Discord knew this. He lost many a decade of sleep over worry.

His charges had shorter lives than those of Discord's so he had to learn early on to only give them nudges in the right direct and hope for the best. Of course it didn't stop him from protecting them from the largest dangers. Dragons, rouge diamond dog packs, changeling invasions to name a few problems he stopped before they could get to Equestria. Not that he was able to protect them completely. He was only one pony and Equestria was quite large after all.

"Look Discord I understand. You have have lost nine keepers already…and the lost of… I know you can't stand another one. But..."

Discord had a tear in his eye, "I'm not the only one but..."

Both Discord and Harmony turned away trying to hide their respective pain. Discord knew exactly who Harmony's the pain was for as Harmony knew Discord's. Harmony knew his was coming but still went headlong into it. Discord didn't have that luxury... Discord wanted to envy that but knew it didn't make the pain any easier if anything it could make it worse. Discord only hoped that it would not lead to grief induced madness. He knew of that all too well.

Harmony was the first the end the awkward silence. "I have a task for you Discord."

"Oh how wonderful!" Discord sarcastically exclaimed in delight. He managed to turn around to see Harmony roll his eyes in reply.

"I need you to head to the Fire Ring Mountains then the Chimney Arch Desert."

"Why those locations?" Discord knew not to ask 'why him' he knew exactly 'why him.' Time was not on their side and Harmony needed to rest before going anywhere much less to those far away locations. He of Hourglass also would not go given that the defenses failed when the shadow demons showed up. Somehow he suspected Harmony had yet to fix the issue. _Why me!?_

Harmony pulled out some parchment from the desk next to his bed. He wrote something down mumbling a bit to himself. Handing off his work to Discord he added, "Based on distances from those locations and the time to fly here given his injuries those are the two most most likely areas where the Dragon Migration was at the time of Garble's attack."

"And you want me to investigate to see what if anything has happened to the Dragon Migration?" Discord was not going to like liking what he knew was going to be Harmony's response. He never like dealing with dragons and if the Dragon Migration was attacked he really didn't want to deal with it alone. The power alone to do so would be immense. Dark magic on top of that...He shuttered.

"Exactly, unfortunately Garble has been unconscious so that the only hint I have is the dark magic. If the Dragon Migration was really attacked the scattered dragons may be leery and hiding… Do not try and find them. Just find out anything you can in those spots and report back as soon as possible."

Discord seemed to unsure of leaving. Harmony had the habit of over doing whenever left to his own devices. Harmony put a reassuring hoof on Discord shoulder, "Stay safe. The dark magic that infected Garble is quite powerful. I will do everything possible to not overdo it."

Discord slowly nodded then in a flash was gone. Harmony laid back down he had a lot to dwell on. As he really didn't want to fall asleep again he stared at the ceiling. A single word in his mind echoing.

 _Murderer…_


	11. And so it Begins

Harmony blinked against the brightness. Sometimes he wished that Celestia could turn it down. Not much he could do about it now. He just pushed through his discomfort as he ascended into the sky to head over to see how Garble was doing. Most likely he was still unconscious, but he still needed to check to see if there was any lingering effects from the dark magic.

Along the way he slipped into deep thought. The pilling of one unfixable problem after another was beginning to annoy him. He had no idea how to fix the defenses, no idea how to fix the low amount of allies they had, no idea how long he could hold out with the resurgence of the disease. A dragon could hold off for a while but… but one dragon alone would not be enough... He would help but given the reacceleration of his condition. He was not sure if he could get the necessary help to cure himself and really didn't want to get his hopes up. Unfixable: a word he was beginning to really hate.

The sound of hooves on the pavement awoken him from his musing. He grimaced, angry that he was, again, doing that while flying. A chill climbed up his back. He glanced around making sure no one was around before entering. A dragon, especially a spark dragon, was more then enough to protect Hourglass from most threats and intrusions, at least for the moment. Still, why was it that he felt like he was being watched?

Harmony carefully closed the door behind him. Fluttershy was the only one in the house at the moment. Twilight must have left to get some rest or to fetch something. Knowing her probably a book, or two, or six. Harmony understood the thirst for knowledge but that mare was going to knowledge herself to death one of these days and without Spike to rein her in.

 _Spike..._

"Harmony!" Fluttershy ran right up to him and started, quite rudely, examining Harmony for any injuries. Harmony was taken aback by her. Luckily his surprise masked his souring mood. Last thing he wanted was to get the what's wrong line of interrogation. He twitched a bit as she went about checking in areas he would rather she didn't. "We were so worried when you fainted after neutralizing that dark magic. Are you feeling better?"

"Much better thank you Bearer of Kindness." He was glad she finally stopped her prodding. He wasn't here for some yearly physical exam. There was a more pressing matter at hand. "How is Garble?"

"His wounds are healing up nicely but he his still unconscious."

"No surprise there," He carefully took a look at the sleeping dragon. His breathing slow and steady. All of the bandages seemed clean and the smokiness was no where in sight. He carefully cast a minor spell to check the progress of his healing. "I doubt he will awake until his wounds are nearly healed. Judging by what I can see it will be in the next day or so. No lingering dark magic I hope?"

"None that Twilight could find."

At that point the door opened and aTwilight holding a stack of books slowly entered, a worried scowl upon her face.

"Ah, Bearer of Magic, good you are here." Apparently she was not expecting Harmony as the books she had dropped loudly to the floor. Harmony and Fluttershy slightly cringed at the sound but Garble seemed to not be disturbed so they both relaxed. "You will need to be with Garble at all times with Fluttershy unless I am here from now on. He should awaken in the next few days and I imagine he will lash out in his disorientation..."

"Of.. of course…" Twilight shakily responded.

"What has gotten you shook up? I doubt its just the books."

"Thhe Spiral Ssspire… its… missing!"

 _Huh?_ Harmony blinked for a moment trying to understand what she just said. _The Spiral Spire missing!?_ Once his brain started to function again he followed Twilight out the door.

"See? I would go investigate myself but I didn't want to leave Fluttershy alone for too long. I thought at first it just fell over…"

Harmony look off in the direction of where the spire should be. He ignored Twilight ramblings over the the theories of why it could have disappeared. He could plainly see it was still there. It was hidden behind an basic illusion spell. A basic dragon spell from what he could see. No surprised as to why Twilight didn't see it. She was not familiar with dragon spells. He of Hourglass was playing a dangerous game with her and one that he would lose. The bigger question, however, was why would he mask Spiral Spire?

"…" Twilight suddenly noticed that Harmony was not only not listening but was heading off in the direction of the missing spire. "Harmony where are you going?" Twilight called out after the now galloping alicorn

"To see He of Hourglass," Harmony yelled back not slowing done in the least. "Stay with Garble!"

Questions ran through his mind as he ran off toward the center of the ruined city. Garble had yet to waken so he had no news on that front. It could be about the defenses, but he doubted that.

It was possible that Golden Heart was beginning to tire of everyone so close to his hoard and within his territory. Hidden Claw and especially River Guardian never minded it too much. Harmony wouldn't have allowed them to be within Equestria otherwise. Normally a dragon wouldn't share a territory with another unless they benefitted from having each other within the same area.

Even though he wasn't a dragon he did heed their codes. Luckily they were both meat eaters and between the two of them they kept the predators in check. He didn't think the ponies of Ponyville would want to know that the only reason that Ponyville was allowed to be settled was because two dragons resided in the nearby forest to keep them safe, relatively speaking.

Suddenly he found himself next the the Spiral Spire. _Not again!_ Harmony grumbled. The only consolation was he wasn't flying this time. It still was dangerous to zone out like that. He put that aside for now as he walked up to the library doors.

"He of Hourglass. I have come as you requested. May I enter?"

"Of course, He of Harmony." _Interesting... he has dropped the don't touch my hoard part..._

Harmony went straight down the center hall and into the center of the dragon's hoard. "You do realize that you could have gotten the Bearer of Magic. She is quite inquisitive. I'm sure given enough time she would have figured out the truth."

"I didn't have an anchor." Golden Heart merely shrugged.

"Fair enough. So what is it that you need me for?"

"I have questions I wish to be answered." Golden Heart cross his arms in finality.

Harmony inwardly groaned, seeing that denying him the answers he would be seeking would be folly. He could force him into a Challenge but Golden Heart was a Keeper and a dear friend to him. Hopefully whatever the questions would be he wouldn't be forced to issue one.

"How do you stand him?"

Harmony blinked. "Well that was somewhat unexpected… You talked to Discord didn't you?" He realized where this was going and why the dragon wanted to ask him questions. _Golden Heart must be wearing out... looks like it will soon be time to leave with the Bearers..._ , "Its quite a simple answer: with kindness."

Golden Heart facepalmed which only got Harmony to laugh hard at his failure at letting a very simple, obvious, and to the point answer not get to him.

"So exactly what is your sixth element really suppose to represent?"

The alicorn's expression fell at that. _Well that too was unexpected…_ Why this question? The first question,sure. He had tried asking Discord first. It was of course odd because dragons usually don't go through secondary sources for information. A dragon would use a direct approach. He was missing something, some key point for why the round about way.

"I'm going to go out on a limb and say that Discord ended up making whatever you asked him into some elaborate puzzle. He is always doing that…you should listen though, sometimes what he says should be taken seriously. Though I will be honest, it can be hard to recognize when he is speaking gibberish or when he is speaking truth."

Harmony puffed upward as if to blow a stand of mane away from his eyes. "Sadly, I don't know what the element represents either...extremely odd I can assure you. I don't know how much the Keeper or Dragon Heritage memories gave you on ponies (Given the topic most likely Keeper). I will tried to explain how cutie-marks work as best as I can. It will be needed if you wish to solved the mystery."

"How is this 'Cutie-mark' tied to the element?"

"Good question. Pony magic, talent, and destiny is tied to their cutie-mark. When a pony discovers his or her talent their cutie-mark manifests. The cutie-mark represents not only their talent but their destiny. Some destinies are not readily known the more complex or abstract the mark is. Their names also tie into what their cutie-mark will be. This is something that we never tell foals about. Revealing that can affect them in ways that can be dangerous… similar but not the same has guiding a dragon's Hoard Name."

Harmony could see the question forming on the dragon lips so he raised a hoof to stop him. "I know, I know. How can a pony's name and a dragon's Hoard Name be similar? Ponies are almost always named in a way that reflects the pony being named. It can be one or a combination of their talent, destiny, and in some cases their personality… but always tied some way to their cutie-mark. Circular in nature…"

"As I have been told, a dragon chooses a name the reflect their very being, what they value, the thing they treasure. It becomes in a way a destiny. Like a dragon about to Chose pony parents are very careful about naming their foals. The magic of our races require that. No other race has that issue. On that matter, yours and mine names are very similar…"

Golden Heart scoffed at that. "And how would you know that? You can't speak draconian and wouldn't understand the meanings that draconian names carry… Unless some other dragon translated then explained it. Which would means you would have stolen from my hoard. You are too honorable to do that."

"True, true," Harmony conceded, "I can neither speak nor understand Draconian, but you said it yourself… You knew of my guidance in your Choosing so one can assume that I would have an understanding why you Chose Golden Heart. Plus, I was there along with my bearers and Discord so one can reason that we knew of you at least nominally before your... 'rebirth'. I am also aware that the word 'golden' in equestrian has numerous meanings in draconian."

"It is interesting we are talking about gold." Harmony conjured up a projection of his now absent cutie-mark. "This is what my cutie-mark looked like. The reason you can't see it now has to do with putting my harmony magic into the Elements. Because a cutie-mark is tied to one magically losing one's magic can cause the mark to disappear."

"My cutie-mark is quite complex so I'll break it down a bit." Harmony removed everything but the golden compass. "The compass has several meanings not only does it mean that I give direction when other need it but also tells of my wandering nature. Compasses (at least working ones) always points in a fix direction. A key you will need to understand in a bit."

The alicorn added five hexagon shaped gems around the edge. "Five of the Elements circle the outside of the compass so you see that I point others to those traits. However the next element is what points to them.."

Golden Heart had a lot to dwell on but he had one last question. One that he thought might give him the insight he needed on Harmony. "What do you hoard?"

Harmony was a bit taken aback by that. He had heard similar questions like that before but he was not expecting to hear it from Golden Heart. "I'm not a dragon, you know that. You also know that non dragons don't hoard."

"Wrong. You hoard." He was going to press the issue to the point of a Challenge if he must. He knew from He of Laughter the time that He of Harmony spent with dragons. One would and could not do that unless they were willing to practice at least some of the culture and follow the dragon codes. There would be no other way he could think of to get dragons to accept him.

"Fine." Harmony irritably agreed. _What is the deal with this line of questioning! Time to gamble to see if I need to Challenge_ , "Why should I tell you?"

"I need to understand."

Harmony again was completely taken aback… _to understand?_ Golden Heart never ceased to amaze him. He really shouldn't be, but still, "Why?"

Golden Heart merely shook his head chuckling in amusement of seeing Harmony stuck.

"You know for a Keeper of Harmony…"

Harmony lost whatever he was really saying as suddenly Golden Heart's voice shifted to Spike's and heard, "...you are sure lacking that right now."

Harmony lost all color in his face his knees buckled then collapsed. He couldn't believe what he just heard. The word that had been haunting him since that night over a month ago echoed within his mind.

 _Murderer..._

"He of Harmony!" _What happened?_ Golden Heart knelt down to get a better look at the alicorn. He lifted up Harmony limp head. His eyes had glazed over. "You are in pain. I can see that…" A sudden realization came over the dragon. He had seen this before, "A pain... I have seen only one other time…"

"… At your Choosing…" Harmony finished for him weakly. His flowing color slowed to a near stand still.

"Yes." The dragon had a feeling that Harmony would know exactly the pain he was talking about as the alicorn was there when it happened. So he wasn't surprised. Still, he needed to stop the alicorn from blurting out anything else about that night or he might reveal things prior to that accidently or on purpose. "He of Harmony be careful you know what can happen if you try and bring back the dead."

"I know…" Harmony's color began to fade ever so slightly but the dragon did not recognize the signs.

 _I see it now… I get it… that has to be the reason for me giving my name to them both. I'm sure of it. As I had written in my journals I could not let the pain of Twilight Sparkle to continue. A brokenness within her that tore at my very being and by my name it restored her though not completely… The last time I saw her the brokenness was still there but fading. But his pain… his pain is more then my name can fix. If anything his brokenness is increasing… Why? 'The Alicron Keeper is not in harmony' the Council said. He of Laughter thinks it has something to do with his sixth Element. But I think its more then that… As Keeper I need to fix this broken harmony but I am at a loss as to what to do._

Golden Heart looked upwards through the nearby window towards the setting sun. Soon the only light would be from his magic sparks. He looked down at the sparks that were flowing off of him. It was like watching sparks that floated away from a fire. The fire that was his magic...

At that moment something else occurred to him. He of Harmony had Magic Wasting Disease… and at the stage he was in… He quickly turned to see that the alicorn was struggling to remain conscious. But under that he could feel that He of Harmony's mana field was fluctuating.

 _Oh no you don't. Not on my watch and not while I still can do something!_ He couldn't do anything about the fluctuating mana field but the least he could do was stop him from fainting. Golden Heart carefully pinched a spark between two claws. Without a word he held it out for Harmony to see. Harmony stared at the spark, confused. Golden Heart then let go of the spark and it slow drifted unbidden towards the weakening alicorn. On instinct Harmony pulled back from the approaching spark. Golden Heart put a reassuring smile on to ease the alicorn's concern. At that Harmony relaxed as the spark continued to drift towards him. It came to rest on the tip of his muzzle before disappearing.

Harmony sneezed. He could see Golden Heart was struggling to hold back laughter. Harmony chuckled at the amusing look which set the dragon over the edge and into full blown laughter. Strangely he could tell that the coming fainting caused by the wasting disease had stopped. Apparently Golden Heart had cast a minor healing spell. Not that it would stop the progression but at least it would stop him from fainting.


	12. Hey there reader!

**A note to all the readers of this story:**

As you can see I finally got around to uploading more of this story to this website. I will probably update in batches, though unlike before, I will not be doing as much to fix errors... This trilogy is _technically_ finished but not uploaded to this website so if you are impatient all you need is to Googlely to find its completed form elsewhere...


	13. The Dragon Migration

"Oh…" He could hear himself groan. He whole body was heavy and ached. He wanted to opened his eyes but those too were like heavy rocks.

"I think he is awakening…" A distorted female voice called out in the darkness. He wasn't really sure if he was really hearing it or if it was some figment of his mind.

"I better go… he should be here…" Another voice spoke though it was hard to hear as the volume seemed to dip beyond hearing several times. For a moment he heard nothing else. The silence and the darkness of his mind enveloped him again.

"Garble…" This time he heard his name being called. _Go away I don't want to talk right now..._

"Garble... If you can hear me you have been injured…" Garble couldn't hear the rest as he fell back into a sleepless slumber.

Garble became aware of the darkness once again. He tried again to open his eyes but the sudden brightness of the light burned him and he quickly shut his eyes. He attempted to get up but something lightly pushed him back. "Easy…"

Garble opened his eyes again. The light was still harsh but at least he could stand it now. Everything around him was a blur.

"Twilight why do I have to be here, with _him_?"

"Because I may need your speed to get the others. Plus you know how scared of dragons Fluttershy is..."

 _Scared of dragons? That means…_ He rubbed his eyes trying to get the blurriness out. Slowly his sight cleared and two ponies came into focus. He knew these two. He was constantly reminded about what he nearly did to them.

"Oh great..." Garble pinched his brow, "I'm healed by not only a bunch of namby pamby ponies but it had to be by you two."

"Try again, whelp."

Garble froze. He knew that voice. "He of Harmony…" He slowly turned to his left and there was the alicorn.

"Relax." Harmony smirked, noticing that Garble was visibly paleing. "You have been through quite a bit if the injuries you have sustained have anything to say. As for healing you, they had nothing to do with that. You can thank me and the Bearer of Kindness for that."

"Where am I?" Garble finally managed to unglue himself from Harmony to take a look around. There wasn't much that he could see given that they were in a clearly dilapidated building of some kind.

"Not where you're supposed to be." Harmony leaned forward giving Garble a hard look. Garble gulped and absentmindedly touched his dishonor mark on his forehead. "I must say you are a lucky one Garble. Ironically lucky. You asked where you are? Welcome to the city of Hourglass! The territory of the once hatching you met all those years ago just before your dishonoring."

"NO... no… no nononono... " Garble shook his head furiously, "You can't be serious."

"I am. The hatching you knew as Spike has Chosen and it is because of him you now live. He was within his right to kill you when you came crashing into the city."

"He should have…"

"Bearer of Loyalty!/Rainbow! " Harmony and Twilight admonished. Rainbow merely shrugged.

Harmony rubbed his head, a headache forming. "He staved off his claw because he noticed that you were injured with dark magic. Something that is of concern to both him and me." Harmony got up and stretched, a few of his jointed popped. "Come, it's best we not keep him waiting."

"Are you _crazy!?_ " Twilight suddenly noticed that she was yelling as everypony, even Garble, was staring at her. She coughed slightly before leaning closer to Harmony to whisper, "He needs to rest!"

"He of Hourglass may not be able to hold back his instincts much longer. I'm sorry but the sooner we do this the better."

* * *

"A minotaur?" Garble nodded. "That's not possible."

"A minotaur could possibly take on a full grown dragon in the right circumstances if they use magic. Although their magic is internal similar to earth pony magic... Strange to have a Minotaur mystic on this continent never mind one that would be foolish enough…"

"He wasn't alone." Garble interrupted, "There were these small… creatures that looked like tar given form and life. The size of a dragon hatchling. Hell they even almost looked like dragon hatchlings except more angular and spiky…"

"Inklings…" Harmony breathed out.

"Inklings? Ling this and ling that…" Rainbow mocked. "I think there is ling on your brain."

"Ugh. I rather use 'ling' then the usual name for those abominations as I'm in no mood to deal with a couple of giggling mares."

"Cackling laughter, the horrible laughter… they poured over everydragon like water…. and the laughter..."

"Garble?"

"Why didn't you kill me?" Garbled begged. He didn't want to go through all of this it was too… awful.

"Garble," Harmony pulled Garble harshly around so he no longer could see He of Hourglass. "Focus on me not on He of Hourglass."

"But…"

"He is a Keeper first, dragon second. Our concern here is the effects of the attack dragon migration not the fact that you are Dishonored." Harmony sighed heavily. He understood Garble's fear but he needed to keep Garble on topic. The pounding in his head was increasing he didn't know how long he could last. "Okay tell me about the minotaur."

"Um, well, he was a typical minotaur. He had black markings across his body… and he was wearing an amulet with a horn attached. Also...

"Wait, back up what did this horn amulet look like?"

"Curved, red. There was this odd smoke emitting…"

"Sombra."

"He's back…"

"Not likely…"

"But…"

Harmony raised a hoof silencing the Bearers. "While I'm positive that the horn was Sombra's the behavior was not like him."

"But he was defeated by... mmmphf." Twilight's retort got muffled by five different hoofs.

Harmony glared threateningly at Twilight. She nearly blew it. Luckily her friends where fast enough. "If anything Sombra's methodical. Revenge by random attack? Doubtful."

An feral growl got everyone's attention. Everyone slowly turned to see that He of Hourglass was shaking in anger. "I'm getting tired of this."

Harmony slowly nodded. "Anything else Garble?"

"I…"

 _"Dishonored…" He of the Flight whispered. His breathing ragged and shallow. "Listen to me…" He coughed up some blood. "You must fly out of here."_

 _"But…"_

 _"Listen, it's almost time… I can sense… I will give you time…" He of the Flight slowly got back up onto he feet. "I will teach this overgrown cow what it means to threaten a dragon's hoard."_

Harmony rubbed his head after trying to get Garble attention several times, "I don't think we'll get anything more out of him…"

"Then it looks like I got back right on time."

"Discord! Excellent timing. Garble has—is—finished. However his recollection is scattered, broken." Harmony paused for a moment to allow a spike in his headache to subside. "Discord we need to know. What did you discover?"

Discord paled but nodded in agreement. "Harmony gave me a task several days ago: to go to the Dragon Migration to investigate. I'm afraid it's bad. I mean really bad. The task for our young Keeper is now going to be much harder. Well it was going to be hard anyway with the thinned ranks of..."

Another growl emanated from He of Hourglass. Harmony sighed he was also irritated, his headache wasn't helping. "Discord stay on topic."

"Sorry… I managed to find them at The Chimney Arch Desert…"

" _And_ …?"

"I found the bodies of at least three whelps and twelve adults. A complete bloodbath. All had been attacked by very potent Dark Magic. One of those was He of the Flight. I'm sorry, but the Dragon Migration is no more."

Harmony gritted his teeth in grief and rage. The ground beneath him cracked from the exertion of pony earth magic. His mind sputtered out no longer able to have calm or coherent thoughts. Everyone back up slowly. Only Discord stayed behind. The anger from He of Hourglass evaporated in his concern over Harmony.

"Harmony, please calm down." Discord tried to but a comforting paw on Harmony's shoulder but quickly snapped his hand back. The fur on his paw singed. _Not good._

" ** _NO!_** " Harmony screamed. His coat lost all color as he rose into the air in a magic induced rage. He eyes, mane, and tail burst into flames.

Everyone watched in horror. It was like watching when Twilight gets so angry that she loses control. The day she finally believed in the Pinkie Sense being a prime example. This, however, made that day seem like she was only mildly irritated. The fiery mane and tail was familiar with but not the roar. It was like a dragon roar. The mana in the air became thick and angry.

For a moment to some Harmony seemed to have disappeared replaced by the body of a full grown dragon. They blinked and or shook their head to try and clear the vision. As fast as it came the vision of the dragon was gone. No one dared asked if what they saw was real or not the wrath of Harmony scaring them from speech.

Slowly the fire and bellowing smoke lessened as Harmony slowly drifted back to the ground. When his hooves touch the ground the fire that he had conjured wisped away. The smell of sulfur and ash however still hung in the air. He stumbled and fell. No one dare to see if he was okay, all were still too far in shock or fear, to move, to speak. Harmony was the only one to make a noise. An odd sobbing, angry, with a trace of feralness, growl emanated from him. Slowly he got up and in a whirl of light was gone.

The two Keepers eyed each other. Discord had felt with his innate ability Harmony's magic going wild in contrast to what it should be at this stage of the Magic Wasting Disease. He doubted that in the short time he was gone he had gotten it cured or restabilized. Scorpan would have taken nearly two weeks to get here given his age. That many stairs would be hard on his joints.

He of Hourglass had different thoughts. The fiery mane and tail could be easily done with anyone with sufficient magically ability that let their emotions get too far out of control into anger. While he knew that He of Harmony followed the dragon codes he had no ability to enter a rage like that. It almost was like the rage of dragon who had its hoard not only stolen but destroyed. Was something about the Dragon Migration part of his hoard? Somehow that didn't quite fit. The Dragon Migration was tied to He of the Flight's hoard not He of Harmony's. His hoard had to be tied to the lands of Equestria. Maybe it could have something to do with that sixth element.

Discord was to first to speak. "I… I think it's best that we all retire for now. Twilight, Flutters you'd best help Garble back I doubt that he has fully recovered his strength to be trying to walk back to where you are dwelling."

The girls only slowly noded as they each took a side of Garble to led him back. The others followed closely behind still shaking. Discord eyed them as they left. He suppose he would have to do some damage control, again. First though he had a different issue to deal with.

Discord stopped He of Hourglass as he turned to leave by putting his claw on his shoulder. A bold move that he hoped would not get him killed but he needed to know. " He of Hourglass what is going on? Harmony's magic has gone wild, feral. It didn't feel like alicorn magic..."

He of Hourglass growled angrily but not towards He of Laughter. "I don't know… He had an episode of the Magic Wasting Disease. I managed to stop the fainting, nothing else. I can't explain the draconic rage."

"Draconic rage?"


	14. Golden Journal 5

**From the Journals of Golden Heart, He of Hourglass, Dragon Keeper of Harmony.** **Entry #5** _(_

 _Unknown)_

I have such a massive headache that just won't go away. How does that expression go? Where one roars one becomes burnt… Problems keep piling up with no solutions...

My draconic instinct has been screaming nonstop since the arrival of the Dishonored. As much as it would be nice to shut it up by following the code as required I'm also a Keeper. A Keeper that needs to know what and why the Dragon Migration was attacked. The Dishonored distinctly remembering hearing this _minotaur_ speak but for whatever reason he can't remember what was said. It is very possible that he might never recall.

I will never admit this, but He of Harmony was right in trying to get the defenses back up and running. He was quite clever in masking why he wanted the defenses back up. It's true—I hate not being able to protect those that I love and to hear the implication that I might not be able to… it was too much and I snapped. He of Harmony is a more honorable dragon then I and he isn't even a dragon.

Also of note that concerns me is He of Harmony's... health. At hearing the loss of He of the Flight he went into a full blown draconic rage. Two things wrong with this. One: he is not a dragon. Two: the kind of power required for what happened should have caused another Magic Wasting Disease episode. For that matter according to He of Laughter the mana coming from He of Harmony was off.

If the burdens of being a Keeper are this complicated after such a short time… I'm amazed that He of Harmony managed to last this long without being crushed under the pressure. As for He of Laughter… well, yeah, not going there…


	15. How One Restores Honor

"Garble until you learn what the right and honorable thing you should have done this mark will remain."

 _What was the right honorable thing?_

 _Why did the Dragon Keeper keep me alive? Especially after I gave my recollections on the attack. The code would have compelled him to execute me for being a Dishonored One. His actions reminds me of He of Harmony's odd ways of following the dragon code..._

 _I remember back when I first met the Dragon Keeper. I thought 'How could a pony hatched dragon be the Dragon Keeper?' In my pride I thought that he would be weak just like those frail ponies. Even more so after he had spared the life of a phoenix egg._

 _The phoenix egg… That's what started this all. Saving an unprotected egg… that would have stay that way… Wait… How could I be so dense?_

* * *

Harmony watched the sun as it rose above the horizon. The dawn of a new day did nothing to ease his pain from the news of the massacre of the Dragon Migration. After his outburst yesterday he had left to go 'vent' in the forest just outside the city. There was enough toothpicks now for every mare, stallion, colt, and filly in Canterlot a thousand times over. Not helping was the dreams ─nightmares really─ that had been interrupting his sleep for the past 6 weeks. It was only a matter of time before someone, mostly likely Discord, would notice his sleep deprivation.

Harmony sighed, stretched, and took flight heading back towards the city to deal with Garble. He didn't know what to do. The dishonor mark required Garble to stay with the Migration but with that no longer an option it put him in an interesting position. Removing the mark but would negate the purpose of it. He could also modify it but in what way? Harmony decided to take a circuitous route to give him time to further think.

Nearly an hour later Harmony hooves touched the ground. He could hear a heated argument from inside the house.

"Yah, _right_ , I say…" Rainbow's rant was interrupted by the entrance of Harmony.

"Harmony! Thank Celestia your back! Garble knocked out Fluttershy and ran off!" Rainbow's wings twitched from her anger. "I knew he was trouble."

A glare from Harmony made Rainbow shrink a bit in shame. He turned to examine Fluttershy. "Bearer of Kindness are you okay?"

"I'm fine. He startled me more than anything." She tried hiding behind her mane as Harmony continued to scrutinize her.

"Now onto to Garble. Any idea…" Harmony stopped mid sentence as a thought came to him. He knew exactly what Garble was doing and he only had a short time before it would be too late, if it wasn't already. "O, of all the idiotic, stupid ideas… If He of Hourglass doesn't kill him I will!"

"Harmony?" Twilight asked as Harmony pushed past her.

"No time." Harmony yelled as he took off at full gallop towards the library.

"Wait! Harmony!" Twilight called out but Harmony was already out of sight

"We best go after him." Applejack trotted off.

"Must we?" Rainbow complained.

"Yes."

* * *

"Harmony!"

Harmony turned his head to see that all six Bearers were running towards him, except for Rainbow who par for course was flying. Harmony merely returned his gaze to a sight near the doors to the library.

Garble was lying facedown facing towards the library. He arms and legs spread out. It was truly a demeaning position. Rainbow flew right to him and was about to pick him up when a rainbow aura rudely pulled her away.

"Hey! What is the meaning!"

"Must you always go head long into things without thinking?!"

Rainbow grumbled before and idea brighten her expression. She returned to Garble. "Garble, you need to get up and out of here before…"

"He will not respond to you."

"Why not?!" Rainbow was now getting angry. She flew right into Harmony's face pointing an accusatory hoof at him. "Is this another stupid dragon rule!?"

Harmony kept a blank face but inwardly he was seething. "Yes and the rules may seem 'stupid' but they are necessary."

"As necessary as a horn on a pegasus." Rainbow spat.

"Hey!" Twilight snapped.

"Dragons are ruled by emotions. Alot of the dragon code is designed to help regulate the negative consequences. Unless you like raging dragons?" Rainbow dropped to the ground at that. "I thought not."

"Ther'ah hav' to be somethin' we can do."

"Keep a look out for He of Hourglass. I will attempt to get Garble to be reasonable."

"Not likely…" Rainbow shrunk at Harmony's angry snort. "Hehee..."

"Garble if I wanted you dead I would have never given you the mark of dishonor."

"I see that now.' Garble responded but remained where he was laying. "However I must do this to restore my honor even if it means my death. I see no other way as I can no longer give atonement to the one that… the one that..."

"This is all amusing but why are you in the 'lying-death' position?" He of Hourglass appeared suddenly crouching near Garble with an amused expression upon his snout.

"He of Hourglass! I did not see your approach." Harmony exclaimed trying to hide his fright at the dragon's sudden appearance.

"Of course not, I masked my approach with an invisibility spell."

Harmony was surprised. That was not something a dragon could do easily given all the variables required masking a living being. A dragon's magic was based on power not order as such it was much harder for a dragon to do any precision spell. Nevermind that most dragons would find that a bit dishonorable to be sneaky.

"Dragon of the City of Hourglass I have dishonored the one known as Harmony and have brought shame to you by being here…"

"Yes, I know that." He of Hourglass chuckled. "But, I will not kill you."

"I have the mark…"

"Garble, what mark?" Harmony was momentarily stunned by He of Hourglass' use of Garble's name instead of the title Dishonored One. But a quick look at Garble caused a corner of his mouth to move upward.

"The mark…" Garble stiffly shifted to see that Harmony was smirking and holding up a conjured mirror. Garble stared at his reflection, dazed. The mark of Dishonor was gone. "But… I… How?"

"Should you or should I explain it?" He of Hourglass stayed crouched but looked upward towards Harmony.

"I will. You met the requirements for it to be removed."

"But I did nothing…"

"On the contrary," Harmony interrupted, "you were willing to lay down your life in repentance."

"Repentance?"

"I think we both know what you're repentant about."

"Um...Yeah..." Garble slowly got to his feet. He avoided looking at He of Hourglass as his feelings of shame still prevented him from looking at the dragon.

He of Hourglass rose to his full height before asking a question, "Garble what do you plan to do now?"

Garble didn't have an immediate response for that. He figured that he would be nothing but a black mark on the cobblestone street. There was nothing he could think of except one. "I want to help."

"Why?"

"I owe you a life debt for not killing me earlier. You spared my life when it should have been forfeited."

He of Hourglass raise a brow at that. While that was true that Garble did owe him a life debt, he was not interested in having anydragon owing him a life debt. "No."

"Okay." Garble bowed and turned to head back to where he had been recovering.

He of Hourglass was shocked. He was expecting for Garble to get incensed and in someway ask 'why?' not to accept it outright. He looked over to Harmony who was also shocked but showed a bit of pride as well. That was enough for He of Hourglass.

"Wait."

Garble turned around to face He of Hourglass. "Yes, He of Hourglass?"

"Don't call me that."

Garble blinked. "I… " He stopped when dawned on him what he was really meaning.

Harmony was just as confused as Garble was for a moment. However, unlike Garble, he didn't know what He of Hourglass was really saying. He eyed both dragons as they stared at each other. He couldn't figure out what was going on. Then Garble moved closer to He of Hourglass so that only a few feet separated them. Suddenly he could see the sparks on He of Hourglass ripple then swirl outward surrounding both him and Garble.

Harmony went wide eyed. He saw that look before. _A Choosing?!_ Harmony instinctively shoved his Bearers behind him and erected a magic bubble shield. He could feel pounding from hooves against his shield. He ignored that as he tried to figure out what to do. Normally he would teleport them out but to teleport that many at once with the chaotic leyonic interference would be extremely difficult and he didn't have the time to muster the necessary concentration. No way would he have them run as it could cause the dragon to attack. Staying of course also carried that risk. Doomed no matter what.

The sparks continued to swirl around the two dragons. For a moment Harmony thought maybe he was wrong about a Choosing about to happen. He had only seen one Choosing so that did make it possible that he was wrong. Either way, this was odd.

Harmony barely made out a nod between the two. He ears went flat as he was sure of what was next. Garble and He of Hourglass roared together in Draconian. At first their roars where grating but then a subtle shift and the roars began to harmonize. As the sparks spun faster a few broke off and flew right at Harmony. He nearly jumped back in surprise but relaxed when they didn't touch him but swirled around him. _Okay then..._

The roaring dragons stopped. The sudden silence deafened Harmony. However the silence only lasted a second as He of Hourglass roared in Draconian followed by Garble. Harmony recognized what He of Hourglass roared. He heard it once before so it had to be his Hoard Name. Which meant that Garble just roared his.

Harmony swore that he heard the words metal and claws when Garble roared his Hoard name. He shook that from his mind figuring that it was his mind playing tricks. _Definitely need to get better sleep._ As for everything else, this Choosing seemed unusual not that he knew exactly what a typical choosing was like. But he didn't have time to dwell on that oddity as a more pressing matter was now upon him. There was no way that this dragon would be as mellow as He of Hourglass.

He of Hourglass was smiling at the red dragon formally known as Garble. Harmony could not see anything different. He wasn't surprised given that Garble was a whelp. For a moment the red dragon didn't move. Suddenly it turned and noticed Harmony and the others.

He growled threateningly. _Yep, not as mellow._ Harmony flung his wings outward in a display of aggression. "Dragon, I am under the protection of He of Hourglass. Stand down."

"I did not give you _ponies_ any protection." The red dragon's maw glowed. He of Hourglass facepalmed.

"I… Wha…" Harmony was completely lost. This was completely new and nothing was making any sense. He had no idea how to respond properly to that as he couldn't think of any relative dragon code that was appropriate.

"Enough. Go Hoard." He of Hourglass moved himself next to Harmony growling in irritation.

"But…" The red dragon grumbled not taking his eyes off of Harmony and the Bearers.

"I said _ **HOARD**_ _!_ " The roar from He of Hourglass was so loud and powerful that it momentarily threw Harmony's concentration off shutting down his shield around the Bearers. The red dragon puffed a bit of smoke then lept into the air.

"Whoa, remind me to never anger a dragon." Rainbow yelled unable to hear.

"What?"

 _Why me?_ Harmony facehoofed as he quickly cast a healing spell on everypony.

"Uh… What just happened?" Twilight asked now that she could hear something besides ringing.

"The birth of a clan." He of Hourglass responded eying the red dragon now circling the city.

"Clan!?" Both Harmony and Twilight exclaimed.

"I'll explain more later. However, it's time for everypony to leave as it is no longer safe to remain."

"No need to tell me twice." Rainbow muttered.

"Come, gather your stuff. We leave within the hour." Harmony motioned for the others to follow him. Rarity and Pinkie Pie were attempting to get a frozen in mortal terror Fluttershy to move. Harmony noticed this and added, "Don't worry you should be fine if you stay near me."

"Not you." He of Hourglass put a hand on He of Harmony's shoulder.

Harmony turned back, completely confused. "Uh… come again."

"I need you here… I need help finding any and all dragons that might be of assistance. I assume you also have a decent firemail network."

Harmony eyed He of Hourglass for a few seconds before shrugging. "Very well. It does finally give me a honorable reason."

"Reason for what?" Twilight asked.

"Spoilers." Discord shushed. Pinkie Pie giggled, nodding in agreement.

"Ugh." Twilight facehoofed. Harmony couldn't help but chuckled at her annoyance.


	16. Abdication

"He of Hourglass we need to contact Celestia." Harmony pulled out a yellow and red feather from his saddlebag.

"Is that…"

"A feather from Celestia's pet phoenix Philomena, yes." Harmony gave the feather to He of Hourglass who promptly blew a wisp of fire incinerating it. Harmony dug back into his bags again and pulled out an ink bottle, a quill, and a overly large piece of parchment. He dipped the quill into the ink and began drawing intricate geometric designs.

"What are you drawing?"

"A spell matrix." Harmony stopped for a moment. He suppressed the urge to smirk at the lost expression on everyone but Twilight who was memorized by the matrix. "It's a more ancient form of spell casting. One that I might add does not need someone to speak slash think like Zecora. That's the an extreme condensed lesson on it as we don't have time for me to go over the mechanics of spell matrices in comparison to 'rhyme' spells."

Harmony went back to drawing. As he drew Twilight attempted to follow along. She was familiar with the basics of it having first encountered it while studying everything available on Starswirl. He had used spell matrices in the creation of a few of his earlier spells. The matrix Harmony was constructing however defied nearly every spell matrix mechanic that she knew.

"That is one of the most complex spell matrices I have ever seen."

"Actually this one is a simple one…" Harmony continued to draw but slowed down a bit to respond. "I should show you one of the matrices for the just one of the elements."

"Now you've done it Harmony." Rainbow groaned knowing that Twilight would not stop until she discovered all the secrets of spell matrices and without Spike to hold her back…

"Not likely, I doubt there is anyone alive besides Celestia, Luna and myself that could really understand, use, and create all but the most simplistic spell matrices…" Harmony eyed his work for a moment before nodding in self approval, "The skill is unfortunately lost."

"Not for long Twilight is too much of an egghead not to let that stop her." Rainbow ducked to avoid a wing slap from Twilight.

"Hmmm…" Harmony looked at Twilight scrutinizing her for a moment. "Maybe."

Harmony turned the scroll over and wrote a quick letter

 **Celestia,**

 **On the other side of this parchment is a spell matrix that should allow you to contact the Council of Harmony from the throne room in the Friendship Castle. We need to talk as soon as you are able to cast it.**

 **Your cousin**

 **Knight**

"Knight!? Cousin?!" Twilight's mind broke her expression froze in mid crazy Twilight. Everypony and He of Hourglass laughed at her. This managed to break Twilight out of her stupor who promptly growled at everyone.

"Distant relative. She considers me her cousin not the other way around. Signing the letter as Knight was the only way to make sure she didn't question the authenticity." At the blank expressions he explained further, "Everyone knows me by the name Harmony but Knight is only known by two."

"Wait are you saying that Harmony isn't your real name?"

Harmony facehoofed. The event of the past few months must have messed with everyponies' minds more than he thought. Maybe they needed a refresher. "You just now figured that out? We did talk about dragon names correct?"

"But..." Twilight objected.

Harmony cut her off with a raised hoof. He quickly rolled up the scroll and gave it to He of Hourglass who sent it on its way with his fire. "I know I also mentioned that I follow the dragon code. So it follows that I would also conceal my true name like a dragon would with their hoard name."

"Then what's your true name."

Harmony and He of Hourglass slapped their faces. Harmony grumbled. Both of them surprised that out of all of them that Twilight would ask that question. "I'm beginning to see He of Flight's side of the argument." Harmony made another mental note to accelerate her lessons and he was right a refresher will be needed.

"It appears that she need a refresher course on what NOT to say to a dragon." He of Hourglass crossed his arms. He chuckled a bit when Twilight gulped, realizing her mistake.

"Indeed."

He of Hourglass gently blew out a wisp of green fire. "She has answered." A scroll appeared and he grabbed it. He handed it over to Harmony who took it in his magic.

 **Understood. I will send another letter when ready.**

"It should take her about an hour to prepare."

Twilight was about to ask a question but a sharp look from Harmony stopped her.

"Now, time to find Discord."

* * *

"Knight?" Celestia's image fritz and her voice wobbled a bit. Harmony's horn glowed a bit as he adjusted the scrying spell.

"We can see and hear you. Can you likewise?"

"Yes." Her image and voice now clear.

"Good."

Celestia looked around. She saw a familiar and different sight. She had not seen the Council of Harmony since just before Discord's first imprisonment. The thrones appeared to be in a different configuration. Nine of the thrones were still in a semicircle with the unusual magic lights, but in front of them three thrones sat in a straight line. She recognized Discord and Harmony on the two on the left. A young purple and green dragon sat on the right one. Sparks seems to come off his body like water over rocks. She gazed at him for a while. He was quite handsome of a dragon. She just hoped that the good heart that was Spike's was still there.

"Is it just you three."

"No, Celestia, we are also here." Twilight called out but Celestia couldn't see her. The spell appeared to not allow her to change her view point.

"Sorry, limitations on the spell prevents a full view of the council chambers." Harmony apologized motioning to Twilight and the others to stay put.

"Very well.. How is everyone?"

"Celestia Solaris as much as we both want to have a friendly chat now is not the time."

Celestia seemed taken aback for a moment before her usual warm, stoic face returned. "I see…"

Harmony cringed a bit at seeing Celestia's reaction. He really did want to spend some time having a friendly chat but circumstances dictated otherwise.

"I call the Council of Harmony into order." Harmony shouted. The lights in the thrones behind them rose and swirled around the room. "Uh… that is new… Discord?"

"My guess? It's because the Council is now complete."

After a moment the lights returned to their respective thrones. Both Harmony and He of Hourglass looked expectantly at Discord who shook his head and shrugged.

"Hmmm… Looks like that is over… with…" Harmony thought he knew the in and outs of how the council functions and with Discord also at a lost... Hopefully the books under the dias would tell them what exactly happened.

"Okay on to our business. I, Harmonious Knight, King…"

"Harmonious!? Who names their foal _Harmonious_?!"

"Rainbow!" Twilight quickly shut her mouth with her magic.

"Well I think it's just a marvelous name."

"Anyway…" Harmony rolled his eyes. "I, Harmonious Knight, King of the lands of Equestria, Lord of the Crystal City hereby abdicate my kingship of the United Kingdom of the Trivium Equine Tribes."

"United Kingdom of Trivium Equine Tribes?"

"The official name for the Kingdom of Equestria." Harmony waved his hoof dismissively, "It's rarely used."

"With a heavy heart I accept your abdication of the throne. My first act is to degree that Luna and I shall retain the title of Princess."

Harmony smiled widely, "Somehow I knew you would do that Celly." Celestia giggled.

"Celly?" Rainbow Dash snorted, "You called Princess Celestia _Celly_!?" Rainbow couldn't hold it anymore and fell onto the floor laughing hard. Pinkie soon joined her when she saw how red Celestia had become. It was hard even for the rest as they had to hid their snorts with hooves.

"You are so going to get it for that." Celestia managed to spurt out angrily.

"Not likely." Harmony stuck his tongue out.

Suddenly a deep cough from He of Hourglass got everyone's attention. He needed to discuss something with the Sun Princess. And as much as he wanted the jolly mood to continue he needed them to leave as soon as possible for their safety.

Celestia took the hint. "Is there anything else we need to discuss?"

"Yes, there is Sun Princess."

"What is it Dragon of Hourglass City?" She warmly smiled keeping a steady eye contact with him.

He of Hourglass smiled back at her. It was good to know that she was not intimidated by a dragon. However he was intrigued as to how she figured out his territory. He decided to figure out that later. "As Firstclaw of the Clan of Hourglass I wish to breath the flame of friendship with you."

"That would be one step below allies Celestia." Harmony interjected when he saw her confused state. He of Hourglass nodded in agreement.

"Ah… Likewise."

"I do have a request." Celestia nodded for him to continue. "I would like the Bearer of Magic act as a what's the word… liaison? Between us and your government."

"Very well." She turned her attention back to Harmony, "I'm surprised, Knight, that you didn't request that position."

"He of Hourglass needs me to act in a similar capacity to other dragons as I have an extensive firemail network and I know the general locations of many others not in my network. Unfortunately the Bearer of Magic does not have a suitable anchor with her. So for the moment Celestia you will have to take and receive letters."

"So that is why you abdicated."

"Yes."

"I always figured that you would leave for your adopted people."

"Adopted people?"

"Later…" Harmony dismissed.

"Is there anything else?"

"Just that the Bearers should arrive back in Equestria within a week."

"And Discord?" Celestia asked, turning towards Discord.

"I will be escorting them. From there I will most likely be on Keeper business."

"Is that everything?"

The keepers eyed each other for a moment before Harmony spoke. "That is all for now. Council of Harmony out."

The image of Celestia wavered for a moment then disappeared. Harmony slumped down on his throne. He will have to make it up with Celestia. It was quite obvious that she wanted to talk. The last time they had seen each other Discord had whisked them away and before that it had been nearly fifteen years. And that time was also all business. Thinking on it further Harmony couldn't remember just talking in nearly a century.

"He of Harmony is there a way to modify the spell matrix you used to allow communication without necessitate using me as a glorified mail dragon that would also allow any clan member to use it?"

"It may take a month for two for me to design it, but, yeah, I think it's possible. It will only allow communication from the let's say the council chambers in Hourglass to the Friendship Council chambers. For any other location will take much longer and would require designing and building two more spell matrices."

"Good."

"As for the construction part I will need to call in a few favors to get the right materials and even then… I'm afraid that we are going to need to use your mail fire for about six months, maybe more."

"Very well, just try and keep mail to a minimum."

"I will. I also need the defense array working again. I'm not sure if it will interfere with the matrix."

"I will see what I can do."

For a moment no one talked. Harmony was already beginning to think on how to design the communication matrix. Twilight was trying to figure out what it would mean being the "ambassador" to a clan of dragons. Discord was busy trying to figure out the weird circumstances with the council lights.

"Soooooooo Harmonious..." Rainbow began.

The council chambers darkened as Harmony walked right over to Rainbow. The air around him crackled as the air thicken with mana. His voice trembled in power as he stated. "Harm. O. Ny."

"Hehe…" Rainbow gulped before regaining her courage. "You can't boss us around anymore as you are no longer king."

Harmony smiled evilly. "You would think that but no. I'm still the Alicorn Keeper and as my 'Hoard' contains the Elements by dragon code Equestria is part of my territory. So I still have authority over you."

"So, no changes other than your title?" Twilight commented as the air lighten once again.

"Not exactly…"

"Oh, for the love of–" Rainbow complained. "Will you quit speaking in riddles?"

"What did you say?" A wide eyed Harmony turned to stare at Rainbow.

Rainbow spoke again but Harmony heard Spike saying, "I am tired of you talking in riddles…"

He of Hourglass noticed the change in Harmony when Rainbow began to repeat what she said. _Not again!_ He rushed over and caught Harmony as he collapsed.


	17. Parting of Ways

_"He of Harmony…"_

"He of Harmony!"

"Huh? Wha?" Harmony groggily responded. Everything was out of focus and far away. He could see a mass of purple and green covering most of his line of sight.

"He of Harmony are you alright?"

Harmony's vision finally cleared and he noticed that He of Hourglass was looming over him. "Yes I am… I think. What happened?"

"I was going to ask you that myself."

Harmony blinked several times trying to figure that out himself. He remembered Rainbow saying something then the world just faded to black after that. The next thing he knew He of Hourglass was looming over him asking him if he was alright. "I don't remember."

He of Hourglass eyed him for a moment. Harmony wasn't sure if he believed him or not. He of Hourglass blinked then backed off allowing Harmony to get up and brush himself off.

"Harmony?" Twilight stepped forward. Harmony waved his foreleg to indicate he was fine.

"Come, let's return to Hourglass and finish packing your stuff. I also want to give each of you personalized assignments."

* * *

Harmony was getting annoyed at Rarity. Her diva attitude was grating on him and that was the problem. He needed to get through to her about how her diva attitude needed to go. The easiest way was to force her to take a break for a year to get her priorities corrected. The career of fashionista had a tendency to make good mares and stallions to become snobbish. "I watched good friends die because of greed!"

 _"Please, you need to leave."_

 _"I don't want to lose you."_

 _"You will die if you dont leave! Please!"_

Harmony shook off the terrible memories. He didn't want to break down right now.

Rarity finally recovered from Harmony last retort. "Well I never! I can help it if ponies can't see..."

"ENOUGH!" Harmony voice blasted Rarity across the room. Rarity had only a second to recover before he was right in her face. "WAR IS NEVER BEAUTIFUL," Rarity mane was completely a mess from the close range use of the Royal Canterlot Voice. He lowered his voice just enough so that she could continue hearing him without her ears ringing. "It's ugly, dirty, slimy, bloody, stinking, and 'uncouth' and guess what, _sweety,_ IT'S COMING!"

Rarity broke into terrified, shivering sobs. Harmony anger was terrifying to behold. She tried to hide by curling into a fetal position while slamming her hoofs into her ears and scrunching her eyes. Harmony only rolled his eyes and with his horn aglow with magic he forced her into the air. He slammed her red shot eyes open and glued her hooves to her sides. He wasn't done and he was going to get through one way or another.

"Nobles! Ha!" Harmony spat. "There is nothing noble about the 'nobility!' Nothing but a bunch of dishonest, backstabbing, unkind, greedy bastards. They let good mares and stallions go to their death so they don't get their manicured _hooviesy_ dirty while drinking tea and munching on biscuits!"

Harmony swung a hoof at Rarity face causing her to flinch. "Your little diva beauty is only my life blah blah blah make you no better than them. You will either learn it now or someone you love _will_ die because of your attitude. Trust me. You want to learn it now."

Harmony roughly released Rarity from his magic. "Now go wash up and take some time to make yourself presentable then get out."

* * *

Harmony was glad that Pinkie was next. Rarity had drain him emotionally. Before she left he handed her a scroll with a hoof written note from Spotlight. He explained that Spolight had already been made aware of her sabbatical. At that Rarity almost let her temper flare again before a sharp glare from Harmony cause her to epp like Fluttershy and quickly vacate the building.

Pinkie Pie slowly walked into the room her normally puffy mane was nearly straight. Harmony figured it was because of Rarity but decided not to press the issue.

"Bearer of Joy I want..."

"You want me to keep morale up when the big meanies come."

"Uh… yes." Again Harmony found himself wondering if there was some connection between Pinkie and Discord. Not that Pinkies odd abilities were a problem. If anything they probably will and have saved lives. It also seemed to help her in spreading her element trait. Still if there was a connection he needed to know. Discord would need to know so that she could learn to use her abilities better and to warn her of some of the more dangerous pitfalls that she most assuredly wouldn't know about.

"It's just that I need to remind you that parties will not always work. Matter of fact, parties will very likely become less effective. I have complete confidence that you will be able to learn exactly what is needed for all occasions. Let your element and instincts guide you in this."

Pinkie Pie mane began to become a bit more puffy as she happily nodded. Harmony smiled as he became more sure that Pinkie was up to the challenge. He turned around to face the window. He sadly looked outside through the window at the other ponies mingling outside. "I know not when war will finally break out… but when it does..."

"No worries I will keep them smiling." Pinkie handed a folded note to Harmony. "Read this after we leave."

"Will do." Harmony eyed the note wondering why Pinkie would hand him a note and then ask him to wait reading it until later. Pinkie Pie slowly walked out of the door. Harmony could see her joining the others in laughter. A single tear drop fell down his cheek as he watched.

* * *

"Bearer of Loyalty I need you to take a break from the Wonderbolts…"

"Not happening."

"Will you let me finish!?" Harmony facehoofed. "I need you to take a break while you are undergoing advanced training under the Royal Elite Pegasi Guard."

"Oh… cool?"

Harmony raise an eyebrow. "I wouldn't call it 'cool.' REPG advanced training will make your time with the Wonderbolts look easy."

"Trust me. It will be easy peasy."

"If you think so."

"I know so." Harmony facehoofed again, groaning.

* * *

"Bearer of Kindness…"

Fluttershy eeped and ran into a corner cowering. Harmony figured she was nervous that he would 'attack' her like he had Rarity. In hindsight he should have done her before Rarity.

Harmony slowly walked up to Fluttershy. He slowly sat down and gently moved a strand of her mane away from her eyes. "Relax. I'm not going to bite."

"Okay." she squeaked out.

"War is scary and it's okay to be scared…" Harmony soothed. "Listen I know you are not a fighter because for you life is too precious. However, you do want to help your friends. Because of that, I'm sending you to the griffons for three weeks to train as a field medic. I won't lie to you. It will be hard and scary, but I know you have the strength to do it. Your kindness is very strongㅡ Something that many field medics don't have."

Harmony comforted Fluttershy for a few minutes until she finally stop shivering from fright. He helped her get back on her hooves. She slowly walked out. Harmony sighed heavily the mare was still so innocent and yet he knew that if he didn't act now it…

"Discord, I can't force you to go, but…"

Discord snapped a claw making himself visible. "I will go. It's going to be horrendous and she is too dear of a friend for me not to go and give her comfort."

"Just be careful the griffons haven't forgiven you yet."

"Don't remind me."

"Give them time, Discord, give them time."

* * *

Twilight walked into the house calmly. Harmony was glad she was the last one as he was tiring out and hers was going to be the most difficult. He didn't have a chance to give a greeting before a hoof slammed against his cheek.

Harmony rubbed his sore check. Once the stinging left he looked at Twilight. She was shaking in anger. "I stand by what I did."

"I don't."

Harmony shrugged. "Well, on to business…"

"No. You are going to..."

"Not. Now." Harmony grabbed Twilight's hoof before she could smack him again. Harmony eyes seemed to grey as he spoke. "War is coming. For the moment Hydro Hourglass is quiet but for how long I don't know. A week, a month, maybe tomorrow… I have got to get you ready for the horrors of war and that means foalish attitudes like the Bearers of Loyalty and Generosity must stop now if they are to survive."

"Let me make this clear: I'm not doing this for you sakes or for mine but for Spike's. I can wield the Elements alone if I must. However Spike considered you six his family as such I will do whatever it takes to protect you even if the means the Bearer of Generosity's over inflated ego gets bruised."

Twilight started to tear up at the mention of Spike. Harmony wanted to join in but forced himself to maintain composure. "Listen. Going home is going to be difficult but I need you to remain strong and have the Dragon Reference Guide read within a week after you get back."

Harmony lifted Twilight head. "The grief you have begun to heal from will reopen when you return. Remember everything that I have told you about that night and the love Spike had for you. Never forget that and never forget what Golden Heart is to you. He is the gift that Spike left. I suggest that whenever you send official mail to also include a personal letter to him."

Twilight burst into tears at that and Harmony pulled her into an embrace with a wing. "Can you do that for him. Can you do it for your little brother?" Twilight nodded. Harmony hugged her tighter as Twilight sobbed into his fur. He allowed a few tears of his own to fall.

* * *

"Do you think they can handle what's coming without you?"

"They have for the past fifteen years. They managed to rise above every challenge they faced. Even though this will test them beyond all they ever thought possible I have every confidence in them."

He of Hourglass turned and flied off, heading for the library. Harmony took the note that Pinkie gave him and opened it.

 **Hang in there Harmony. You will find your joy aga** in.


	18. Bonus Chapter: Dragon Reference Guide

**Dragon Reference Guide:** **A Guide to Save Yourself from Certain Death**

 **Introduction**

So you want to learn about Dragons? Let me be first to say you don't. Dragons are a very proud both as individuals and a people. They don't reveal much about themselves and for good reason. They are creatures that measure life at a rate that spans generation for most races. Because of this they possess knowledge that most races are not ready for. Knowledge comes with a great responsibility.

Dragons are beings of passion, loyalty, honor, nobility. They don't take things lightly as for them very word and action conveys a lot. If you value your life keep your distance and leave them in peace. However, that is an ideal situation. This guide is give you enough knowledge to survive any encounter if and when they come.

Most people think that dragons are rampaging brutish beasts out to steal everything shiny and eat everyone's children. That is atypical behavior for a dragon see Greed Growth (pg 64) and Rage/Beast Growth (pg 66) for more details. For the most part dragons are quite docile as long as you don't steal from them, attack them, or insult them. Of the two stealing (inadvertently or on purpose) and insulting them will incur their wrath faster then anything.

It's amazingly easy to insult them. As mentioned before they are beings of passion (or of emotions) and of honor. They have a series of very complex intertwining rules of conduct that all adult dragons adhere to. This serves to not only calm the well known "Dragon Rage" that is used in fanciful tales about dragons but to also keep dragons from rampaging against each other. A partial list of Codes and their uses can be found in Appendix A.

If you find yourself in an encounter with a dragon here are a few basic pointers to at least keep you alive if you get nothing else from this guide. Never, ever ask for a dragon's name. If you must always ask a dragon how to address them. Names to a dragon are private and hold special meaning to the dragon.

When addressing a dragon, especially an angry or irritated dragon, it's best to address them as "Dragon of such and such location" (if you don't know where you are the more descriptive the better) "Dragon (insert detailed description of them)" can work in a pinch as well but will most likely not be as well received. This rule doesn't apply for hatchling or whelps(young dragons that are not of age). See Dragon Life Cycle (pg 7) A word of extreme caution: young adults can look like whelps so its better to follow the above rule when in doubt. See Dragon Names (pg 12) for more information.

If you find yourself in a dragon's hoard running is not always the best option. If they accuse you of eating/taking their gems and you think you can escape do so. However, if they accuse you of stealing their hoard then you are best not to run. A dragon will stop at nothing to get their hoard back and will destroy anything and anyone in the way. How a dragon will deal with someone stealing their hoard will vary from dragon to dragon. It is always best if you find yourself in a cave with piles of gems, coins, and other shiny type objects is to touch nothing and to slowly step away from the pile and leave as quietly and as quickly as you can.

The prevailing thought is that dragon only hoard shiny things and "playthings." This is only partially true. What most actually see are a dragon's bed and food. Though they will use the word 'hoard' to describe both. A dragon's true hoard is usually hidden so what most people think are hoards are not. See Dragon Hoarding (pg 58)

Now I must clear up a misconception and fear (though not completely unfounded). Not all dragons are meat eaters. Those that do will not knowingly eat a sentient creature. Also those that do eat meat do not eat a lot of it. Gems, minerals, and some metals are the main source of nutrition. Gems, by far, comprise most of their diet due to the unique magical properties they possess. Also given the hardness of dragon scales gems are also used to help keep the scales from dulling. See Dragons and Gems (pg 44)

"Dragons are dragons." a saying that is a bit infuriating. Just like there are several tribes of ponies (i.e. Earth, Pegasus, Unicorn, Crystal) there are several types of dragons. See Dragon Races (pg 30) for a full listing and descriptions. Unlike ponies dragons rarely crossbreed between types. This is more than a culture thing it's for the safety of the offspring. See Crossbreeds (pg 37) Dragons generally live in extremes and usually hostile areas in comparison to other races. Not only does this help keep them in solitude but also can be an indicator of the type of dragon they are.

A final word of caution and warning. This guide is designed to keep you from harm from an accidental encounter with a dragon. **DO NOT** use this guide as a way purposefully go out to study or talk with dragons. They don't take intrusion lightly even more so if it was on purpose.


	19. Golden Journal 7

**From the Journals of Golden Heart, He of Hourglass, Firstclaw of the Clan of Hourglass, Dragon Keeper of Harmony.** **Entry #7**

 _(3 days after Clan inception)_

I hope He of Hourglass finally found a spot for his hoard. So far he has moved four times in the three days since he Choose. I suppose it was to be expected with the type of hoard he will have. With Hourglass in ruins finding the right facilities must be irritating. I'm shocked I haven't had to go calm him down because of it. Once I'm sure he found the right spot I will show him where the Treasury is located. I don't think needing to have to keep moving gems around while searching for the right place to hoard will improve his mood.

If this place is going to be the home of a dragon clan the city is going to need to cleaned up at minimum. Rebuilt would be best. Either way it's going to be a long term project given the size of the city and the fact that there is only two dragons so far. I know He of Harmony will help but that still will not put a dent in all the work that needs to be done.

With that in mind I think I finally found a lead in finding out more about the non functioning defense array. Assuming that the ruling council would have access to the defense array and to possible a book on it's operation I have began a search in the homes of the final council members (at least I think they are the final members). I found them listed on a scroll in the council chambers.

On those same lines, while I was in the council chambers I observed He of Harmony busy with a piece of charcoal drawing a spell matrix design that takes up nearly the entire floor below the council bench. I can see now why it would take nearly two months to design.

So far this has been an interesting start for the first dragon clan in many millennia.


	20. Flying Fires in a Nightmare

Oww... what happened... _Harmony winced as his head throbbed with pain. He slowly opened his eyes. His vision was blurry so he blinked a few times to clear it. As his vision cleared he noticed that he appeared to be lying within a forest in the twilight hours. The forest was one he didn't immediately recognize. From the level of vines and overall creepiness it could be Everfree. Unfortunately, it was a bit too dark to get much in the way of clear details._

 _Harmony looked about trying to peer through the nearly pitch black forest. The canopy was so thick that he wouldn't be able to fly out. It also appeared that even if he could fly the clouds that were visible through gaps looked sinister. The sound of thunder rolled the through the forest and seemed to shake the core of Harmony's being. That only confirmed it for him which meant he would have to walk anyway._

 _"Let's get this over with." Harmony grumbled to no one as he got up onto his hooves. Not knowing the correct way out he picked a random direction and started pushing through the underbrush._

 _The bushes and brumble irritated him as his fur became scratched and matted from squeezing through the undergrowth._ There has to be an animal trail around here somewhere… _As he stepped on a branch breaking it he saw the movement of a white rabbit. The noise he had made startled it into flight._

Why does this seem familiar? _He pondered as he watch the rabbit scurry away. He hopped from bush to bush an it reached a trail where it quickly disappeared._ Perfect.

 _The path was a vast improvement to bumbling around. As he walked down the trail the feeling of deja vu further creeped in. He just couldn't place how this seemed familiar. Soon he could see an opening in the trees ahead._ Finally a clearing or meadow. _Harmony happily chuckled at the turn of events._

 _Harmony trotted quickly through the break into trees to find himself in an idyllic meadow. It was so nice to finally be out of the claustrophobic forest that Harmony at first didn't realize the danger. A draconic roar snapped him out of his jubilation. Above he could see in a clearing of the storm clouds. A flash of lightning illuminated the shape. It was a dragon shape and within was the constellation known is some parts as Draco the Dragon._

Draco? _Harmony blinked in confusion. For some reason he also felt fear well up in him. It was as if he knew that Draco was angry and was about to attack. The stars comprising him even redden in agreement._

 _A yellowish-orange glow appeared in the corner of his vision. That could only mean one thing. Harmony eyes snapped back to the forest. Sure enough, the forest was engulfed in towering flames. He did a complete threesixty and discover that he was entrapped. The fire had encompassed the entire perimeter of the meadow. "How in Tartarus!?" He cursed. The flames reflected in the widening fear from his eyes._ I have to figure out a way to escape!

 _Flying in stormy skies was dangerous but he didn't just have stormy weather to deal with but the added dangers that flames and smoke could bring to flying. A death trap to even the most experienced flyers. Teleporting could be tried but as he didn't know where he was and the extent of the fire made that just as dangerous._ Screwed no matter what. _Harmony thought trying to shallow the continuing rise in panic._ If I fly up just a little maybe I'll find a spot where there are no flames and teleport out of this death trap!

 _Harmony flapped his wings slowly to try and calm himself down. Panicking in the air now would mean certain death. Once his heart stopped racing he began to take off. No sooner had he lifted off he was knocked down by a draconic roar. His wings instinctively locked up. He wasn't too sure but he was positive that the Draco constellation just roared a challenge._ How do I know that!?

 _Harmony tried to fight the fear locking his wings to his sides but before he could do anything an ember landed on him. Out of frustration, fear, and now pain he screamed out "WHAT IS THE DEAL? IT'S LIKE EVERYTHING IS TRYING TO KILL ME BY FLAMBE PONY!"_

 _Harmony immediately regretted doing that as he ended up breathing in an enormous amount of smoke and ash. With that he started coughing fiercely. His breathing had already started to begun restricted from the heat and now he could add coughing from smoke inhalation to the mix. He managed to concentrate enough to cast a minor healing spell which stopped the coughing. He gulped down what little fresh air there was near the ground trying to get enough oxygen to think._

 _A crackling explosion jarred him back to the fire problem. He looked up to see that one of the trees had exploded from the intense heat and was now lying nearby burning. He backed away from the increase in heat the burning tree chuck produced. Looking around he saw that he was running out of space, time and ideas._

 _He looked up at Draco in sky to see it twinkling at his fate. He gritted his jaw in fierce anger and vowed_ I will not give up! _He brought his magic forth pulling the dirt around him into the air. His horn strained to hold the mass in the air. His concentration tried to wane from the pressure. He grunted as he surged his magic forward flinging the mass of dirt at the approaching wall of flames._

 _His jaw dropped when the dirt hit the fire and disappeared completely as if it was nothing. Not willing to give up just yet he pulled another, larger mass into the air, but he faltered and the dirt fell back onto him. He shook the dirt from him as he frantically tried to fight his loss of concentration and the lack of ideas to escape._

 _The fire took that moment to flare up pushing him back. Looking around he realized there didn't seemed to be anything else he could do as the heat of the flames was driving him to the center of the meadow. He started coughing again but this time black gunk started pouring out of his mouth, choking him. The taste of what ever it was almost bad enough to cause him to retch. Even though he knew he was beaten he eyes still shone with anger and defiance._ To bitter end then…

 _The fire rushed into the meadow the inferno nearly bringing Harmony to his knees. Embers landed all around lighting the tall grass. Harmony bore his entire sight towards Draco. His fur began to smolder and his feather withered. He tried to get his horn to light. Any spell any at all but the pain and lack of oxygen had lowered his ability to think locking away his magic._

 _His fur finally burst into flames. Harmony screamed from the pain of his flesh being seared but still he stood. The light in his eyes began to dim as between his burning flesh and black tar choking him took their toll on his weakening body. It took everything left in him to remain standing even as he was dying._

 _Suddenly he could feel a clawed hand on his withers._

* * *

"YEAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" Harmony screamed. He shot up and hit his head hard on the ceiling. He was back in his home in Hourglass. There was no fire and black whatever wasn't coming out of his mouth.

Harmony rubbed his aching head trying to calm himself down. That was the third time having that dream. Each time it was slightly different and each time he wasn't aware he was dreaming. This alone was odd. He could dreamwalk just like Luna (although admittedly he was not as skilled) which would should have allowed him to be immediately aware that he was dreaming. Now if it was a vision it wouldn't have bothered him being unaware midvision but thisㅡthis nightmare was definitely not a vision.

At least this time Luna hadn't tried to interfere. He couldn't remember how many times he warned Luna to stay away from his dreams. There were things that he knew that he had to keep secret that could leak into his dreams. She knew this, and yet, every so often she would attempt to help. Not that she could enter anyway. Harmony had learned long ago how to keep her out. He made a mental note to teach Twilight to at least blockout dragon memories from her dreams.

He sighed as knew he wasn't going to get anymore sleep. He grabbed a lantern and headed to the Council building. If he was going to be up he could at least get work done. With any luck He of Hourglass, the first one (it was going to get annoying with two He of Hourglasses), wouldn't find out. It wasn't that he didn't want to have He of Hourglass see him up but that he didn't want him to know about the recurring nightmares. He had enough to worry about without adding another thing to the list.

 _Murderer…_

Harmony cringed when he heard the apparition's voice. He paused for a moment to wait it out. After a few minutes of silence he continued onward. After about twenty minutes of walking he made his way inside the council chambers.

Just as Harmony put down the lantern he started coughing. At first it just was a general dry clearing the throat type but then it evolved into a wet cough. Something vile came up and he quickly spat it out. The taste seem oddly familiar. He lifted up the nasty phlegm to examine it and noticed odd blackish particles suspended in it.

 _Is that ash?_ Harmony went wide eyed. _But it was only a dream!_


	21. A Lesson on the Code

"Hey, He of Hourglass." Harmony smiled when he saw that Golden Heart was casually leaning against his desk eying an emerald in his hand. He was hoping that the former Garble "He of Hourglass" wasn't here. _Most likely moving his hoard… again._

Golden Heart popped the emerald into his mouth shattering it with a single bite. "He is not here…"

"Thank the stars…" Harmony felt relieved at that. "I don't want to start that again."

"Start what again?" A blank stare from Golden Heart nearly got him giggling.

"Let's just say He of Laughter and leave it at that…"

"So, what brings you here to the library?" Golden Heart got up onto his feet so he could properly talk with his visitor.

"I want you to send this to Celestia." Harmony lifted up a sealed scroll. "It's time to start the Bearer of Magic's lessons."

"Aren't you a bit early for that? I do recall you saying giving her a week to settle back in and to read that book of yours."

"True, but she has a tenancy to fret and freak out when even the most minor things throw off her schedule."

Golden Heart crossed his arms before asking, "And what makes you think I'll allow you to purposely cause her stress?"

"Because I know that you know that there is more to life than rigid schedules, lists, and checklists to check the checklists to make sure she did everything on her list."

"Wait. Are you serious?" Golden Heart's eyes widen, his jaw dropping a bit, "She really does that?"

"Sadly, she does…" Harmony shook his head in confirmation.

"Then by all means hand me the 'scroll of her doom.'" Golden Heart smiled evilly while looking about conspiratorially. Harmony snorted as he tried to suppress his laughter at his antics.

Golden Heart couldn't help but to start chuckling. It got so bad that he soon sounded like a rolling rumble. He tried to get his fire to work but he was unable to stop shaking long enough to properly form the right fire. Everytime he tried all he produced was smoke. At this Harmony lost it and joined in repeatedly slamming his hoof to the ground.

* * *

A squawk woke up Twilight from her slumber. She groggily looked around seeing nothing but scrolls and opened books lying everywhere. She had fallen asleep in the middle of her studying… again. Another squawk fully awakened her. She looked towards the window to see that Philomena was perched next to a snoozing Owlowiscious. A scroll was tied to her leg.

"A letter?" She wondered as she grabbed the scroll. The phoenix squawked again then took off back to Canterlot. Twilight quickly unsealed the scroll. She quickly read the letter. Not believing what she read she read it again. She began to panic as she realized that she read it correctly.

"He gave me a week! That's seven days not five. Maybe he wanted to test me to make sure I don't wait until the last minute. Or maybe it has been a week because dragon weeks are shorter oh dear oh dear oh dear what to do what to do! I know! A list!" Twilight pulled out a scroll and started scribbling down a list of things she needed to have when her first 'official' dragon culture lesson from Harmony started.

* * *

Harmony lit his horn with mana then shouted in power, " ** _Private: Twilight: Lock._** " The crystal walls glowed for a moment then dimmed back to normal. _There that should keep Discord out not that I think he's there but with him…_ Harmony scrunched up his muzzle at that. Twilight was too busy wondering what was going on to notice. _I hope she will ignore the fact that I also removed her assembled note taking materials. Somehow I doubt it._

"What did you do?" Twilight continued to scan the chambers trying to figure out what exactly Harmony's randomness did.

"I just made sure that this meeting is private. There is a book under the dais that lists the spells enchanted into the castle and how to activate them. I suggest you memorize them so you know how to secure the castle and especially the council room." Harmony raise a hoof when he saw the look in her eyes. "Later, once we are done. Also those books need to remain there and are enchanted to return there… You can add other books to there as well."

"Before we get too far along and I forget, Golden Heart sends his regards. I might add that he was quite amused at your stilted writing…" Twilight blushed completely embarrassed as her apparently abysmal letter writing. "Listen it's alright to talk about yourself and the past. Write like he was right there listening to you. Obviously you will need to omit any reference remotely related to Spike that includes his job as an assistant. I sure you can come up with a spell to remind you before you slip up. While we are on this, you also knew Garble as well so that applies to him as well…" Harmony stopped when he noticed that Twilight had stopped listening and was showing signs of worry.

Twilight was trying to mask the fact that she was in the middle of a desperate search. Harmony shook his head in amusement as he watched her increasingly frantic nature. "Wait!" Twilight yelled out as she gave up trying to hide her panic. Her horn glowed even brighter as she tried even harder to get her writing materials, "What happened to my scrolls, my ink, my quills!" She started to run about looking literally everywhere for her missing items.

"Bearer…"

"Oh dear, I _just_ had them!"

"Bearer…"

"I double and _triple checked_ to make sure and I still forget them!?"

"Bearer…"

"I got it! I must have left them in the office!" Twilight frantically tried to push the side door to the office open. "Come on. Door. _Open_!"

"TWILIGHT SPARKLE!" Harmony yelled in the Canterlot Royal Voice. Twilight gulped and turned to face Harmony's image. "I removed them."

"Why?" Harmony facehoofed so hard that he was sure he gave himself a bruise. Twilight nervously laughed when she realized that she had just done. She had panicked in front of her teacher.

"You did read the book right? I don't write those graphic 'threats' to fulfill some sick twisted sadistic pleasure. Those 'threats' actually happened. Most of which was punishments for being irresponsible with the knowledge they were taught. Dragons had taught or told things about dragons to those who were not able, wanting, or willing to understand the immense responsibility and honor that comes from having said knowledge. The dragons that gave out that knowledge received the mark of dishonor and you remember what I said about Garble being really lucky? Golden Heart has has so much faith in you that he is willing to take the risk."

Twilight visibly paled as she recalled all the terrible things that she now knew the dragons had actually done never mind the more recent events with Garble. Harmony wanted to put a wing around her to calm her but his wings would only pass though her if he tried. So he did the next thing and adjusted his spell temporary so that he could walk to her huddling form. He laid down so that she could see him easily. "Relax, Bearer of Magic." Harmony soothed.

"So if I misuse this knowledge or flippantly spread it Golden Heart could…" Twilight shuttered at the thought.

"Now you see why dragons are very leary about revealing anything about their culture and ways."

He released his additional spell and his image wavered out of existence for a second before reappearing back above the dias.

Harmony nodded in approval as Twilight got up and took a seat on her throne. Wasting no time he dived right into what he needed to talk about. "There are three levels or types of dragon code: hatchling, whelp, and the third (which I don't know the 'name' of) that adults get imprinted with at the Choosing."

Harmony lifted up the guide and allowed it to slow spin in the air. "The Reference Guide contains mainly hatchling and some whelp code. I was given permission by several dragons to write that book because its express purpose was to prevent unnecessary death from accidental 'culture misunderstandings'. Normally the code is never allowed to be written down."

"Why is that?"

"Besides the risk that it could end up being read by anyone? Because if you are unable to remember by heart then you are are considered not responsible enough to know the code." At seeing Twilight appearing still confused he added. "Would you find it rude for someone to be constantly consulting a book just to talk to you?"

"Yes…" Twilight blushed and sheepishly rubbed the back of her head, "a little."

"There is the simple answer to your question."

"Here is your assignment," Harmony levitated a scroll so she could see then in a flash the scroll disappeared and then popped back into existence next to Twilight. "I have enchanted it so that only you can read it and will disappear the moment you finish reading it or leave the council chambers."

"Wait, I thought that…"

"That the Reference Guide was the only exception? For non-adult, non-dragons yes. It seems I left out something…" Harmony rubbed a hoof to his head as he felt a headache forming. _Now I know how my teachers must have felt..._

"I think it's obvious that adults are the ones that teach whelps and hatchlings. I think that hoofwriting or in this case clawwriting should look familiar. I had discussed this with Golden Heart and he has agreed that this will be less stressful on our magic reserves. To teach you the 'proper' way would require the extended use of this connection. To begin with using this form of communication is a drain on the magic of myself or Golden Heart on this end and the castle on your end. This alone would normally not be enough but with the now ever present threat of the 'Dark One' and the strain this connection would have with extended use on this plane is a risk the world can't afford. The last thing we can afford is the 'Dark One' finding a way into this plane. The power he could wield…"

Twilight saw him going pale and decided it might be best to ask a question to hopefully move the lesson away that dark topic. "What about the spell matrix that you are working on?"

Harmony snapped out of his inner dark thoughts with a slight blush. He figured she would ask that question when he trailed off. Secretly he was glad she did. "There is still a chance that it won't work and I can't guarantee that I will always been in Hourglass. Also it will still put strain on your side."

"Now you have one week to memorize the list. I taped a piece of paper over the final code to give you time to memorize the rest. Be at Zecora's next Tuesday at noon along with the Bearer of Generosity. I have arranged for River Guardian to test you. Do us both a favor and don't just regurgitate the codes. This is a test of using the code you have learn in normal conversation. He will be able to tell if you are just repeating it or know how to truly use it."

"Why can't River Guardian teach me?"

Harmony couldn't' believe she asked that question he was sure he had already said why not earlier. "That would be improper."

"How could it be improper?"

"Uhhh…" Harmony facehoofed. Twilight He made a mental note to have Golden Heart explain the finer details as to why only Golden Heart and Himself would be teaching her. For now he was going to have to stall her. "Hold that question for next time. And because I know that you will try don't ask River Guardian because that would be extremely rude and it will reflect on you 'test.'"

Twilight gulped at that. She prided herself on always getting high scores on tests and the idea of getting a lower grade or Celestia forbid fail… She gulped again at that thought.

"Back to our lesson." Twilight snapped back to attention. "You remember that I have said on many occasions that I follow dragon code? That is only partially true. I _live_ the code. There is a difference. You will only have to follow the code. And you are only going to learn part of the code: The Rules of Interaction."

"This next part I'm going to tell you as a warning. The code I live by is known as the Acolyte Code which is the code that non dragons can follow. The Acolyte Code is a conglomerate of all of the hatchling and whelp codes with slight modifications for being biologically not a dragon. The Rules of Interaction that you are learning are contained within that. Be aware that you may encounter a dragon that doesn't approve of 'outsiders' learning about dragon codes. Some will assume that because you know the Rules of Interaction that you are wanting to live the code. For your own safety deny that. And never imply that you are interested. You must be firm that you only are following the Rules of Interaction to help promote peace between dragons and those that are in your care. Do you understand?"

"Yes."

"Now there is something else. Pop quiz: What do you and I know that is normally not to be known by those that aren't adult dragons and why we might know it?"

Twilight thought for a moment. She racked her brain trying to think of something that she knew that would be adult only knowledge. Suddenly she thought of it. "The memory wipe but I have no idea why."

"Correct. Though you shouldn't know why. That part was a trick question. You are allowed to know because of hatching him and me from being designated as his guardian by the dragons. This gives of us the unique privilege of knowing some of the adult codes. One of them is the example that you gave. That is something that only adults are suppose to know. So of course it is not part of the Acolyte Code."

"There are a few others but I'm not going over them. If a dragon accuses you of knowing more then you should let them know that you hatched a dragon egg. Don't reveal any more than that. That should pacify them."

"What if they think I stole the egg?"

"Good question…" Harmony racked his mind but couldn't think of a good answer. "I will have to consult Golden Heart so I will get back to you on that."

Harmony could feel that his magic was beginning to wane. He wanted to teach some more, but sadly, he knew not to push it. He figured it would be best to wrap it up by allowing her to ask a few questions. Hopefully they would be questions with simple answers.

"I think we have time for a few questions…" Harmony stopped talking as he heard a painfully high pitched squeal echo across the chambers. He looked around the Council of Harmony for the source but couldn't find it. It was at that point that he realized it was Twilight. His ears flatten as he thought darkly. _This could be the death of me._

After a few minutes, Twilight was finally able to get her brain working again after her initial excitement. She had written nearly a hundred questions but was of course without it as Harmony took away all of her materials earlier. One did come to mind though. Recent events had brought it up and the book gave no answers. The book went so far as to implied that outside of the Dragon Migration that dragons kept to themselves which begged the question. "What are dragon clans?"

"I know just as much as you do about dragon clans. If I learn anything that I'm allowed to pass on I'll let you know."

"You said you were designated as Spike's guardian. How?

"You picked a very complex question... I will give you a basic overview." Harmony sighed at seeing Twilight's faltering expression. "Please, understand, Bearer of Magic, that there parts of the story that I can not tell. Other parts would take too long to go over right now and we both have responsibilities to get back to." Twilight's expression was still down but at least it stopped darkening. Harmony smiled a bit upon seeing that at least he would alleviate at least some of her curiosity. "The simple answer would be that Spike's parents entrusted me with his egg. Remember that a Keeper manifests only when there can be no more of that race. Spike's egg appeared as… as both…"

"Harmony?" Twilight asked softly as she noticed his eyes glazing over.. or at least she thought they were glazed over.

"Sorry, lost in memories there for a second…" Harmony sniffed slightly. "Anyway, an egg by code would have been normally been smashed upon being orphaned or abandoned as that is considered the same. There is a part of the whelp code that never is taught unless a clutchmate wishes to care for his unhatched cluthmates or aka orphaned siblings. Now obviously I'm not a dragon even though I was living by the Acolyte Code by that point. So how could I be considered his clutchmate?"

After a few moments of silence Twilight suddenly realized that Harmony was waiting her to answer his question. "You mean you want me to figure out how…" She trailed off as the gears in her head went into overdrive trying to grasp at anything that would help her answer.

"It's okay not to know." Harmony chuckled when he saw that Twilight realized that he had tripped her up on purpose again. "Admitting that might save your life one day… Names are sacred to a dragon. Remember when I said I was never allowed near a dragon about to Choose? But who would be near them?"

"Their family."

"Usually. On occasion a dragon can be away from family when it happens. There are two magical names a dragon has: their hoard name and their egg name. I was there when his egg was sung over. That is also sacred as it is to be only known by family which is why you only heard the translated version. By allowing me to be there and to hear it Spike's parents adopted me as his clutchmate as if I was by blood."

"Wait, Spike considered us his family so why…"

Harmony raised a hoof to silenced her. He couldn't allow any more interruptions if he was going to finish answering Twilight's question. He continued as if she hadn't interrupted. "It was that name that gave me the opportunity to take Rite of Guardianship. If a whelp passes then he is magically linked to the egg or eggs. The codes that the whelp is taught after passing are some very basic adult codes. They are also are addressed as if they are adults (even though they are not adults and most codes will still not apply) That is all I am able to talk about because you have not and are unable to take the Rite."

"So that is why you have a 'territory,' hoard, and are address as 'He of Harmony.'"

"Basically."

Twilight grumbled, rubbing her hooves against her head. "This is giving me a headache."

"Yeah," Harmony sighed heavily, "The codes are complex and can seem contradictory at times…"

"Ugh."

Harmony rolled his eyes, snickering, "Welcome to the club."


	22. A Missing Dragon and the Outsider

A red and orange dragon walked into the library. He looked around to see if anyone besides the purple and green dragon was around. "He of Hourglass are we alone?"

The purple and green dragon did not look up from his writing as he responded, "He of Harmony is in the council chambers working on his assignment. So, yes."

"Golden Heart why do you call him by that honorific? He is an Outsider and…" The rest was cut off by his mouth being shut by a glittering aura. The red dragon went wide eyed for a moment. A boiling inner rage tried to fight its way past the confusion before his brain finally realized it was the odd aura caused by Golden Heart's magic. The sparkling aura disappeared along with his rage.

Golden Heart put down his quill and pinched his brow. While this reaction to He of Harmony was not unexpected he was still a tad disappointed. "He is a Keeper of Harmony like myself. That alone should be enough for you to use the honorific 'He of', _Metal Claws_. If that isn't enough for you he has passed the Rite of Guardianship."

Metal Claws' jaw opened and closed as he struggled to comprehend what was just said. He knew that Golden Heart would not lie about that. No dragon in their right mind would lie about something as sacred as the Rite of Guardianship. "A non dragon passing the Rite?! But that's impossible."

"Apparently, not, because he did. Enough of this." Golden Heart waved his hands in an action that meant to tell his clanmate to let the topic drop. "What is you real reason for being here?"

"I was hoping to meet the other dragon of this clan."

Golden Heart blinked in confusion. Metal Claws raised an eyebrow at this. Golden Heart knew there was only two dragons but Metal Claws was saying there was another. Even though He of Harmony passed the Rite of Guardianship he couldn't join a clan because of the inherent magic that was needed. That magic only manifested at a Choosing. Considering he was not a dragon by blood, only by oath that left him out.

Metal Claws saw that Golden Heart was still confused so he tried asking the question a bit differently. "Where is the Secondclaw?"

Golden Heart's confusion only increased. Now Metal Claws was becoming confused along with Golden Heart.

 _"You_ are my Secondclaw." Golden Heart insisted.

Metal Claws shook his head. "No, because I received the Clan Heritage Memories at my Choosing."

"But that is impossible! The first two dragons of any clan never receive clan memories as there is none to give."

"I know that." Metal Claw snapped. He immediately regretted his words and flinched at the cross look that his Firstclaw was giving him. "Forgive me, Firstclaw. Its just the absurdity of this situation…"

"No need to apologize Metal Claws. I shall memory-walk though both the Dragon Memories and my Keeper Memories and see if I can find a clue to this problem."

"Keeper Memories?"

"Similar to Clan Heritage Memories." Seeing the blank expression on his clanmate's face he explained further, "It's something I have due to my destiny as the Dragon Keeper of Harmony."

Metal Claws shrugged, giving up on trying to understand. The missing Secondclaw, however, made his paranoia of the alicorn pony rise up again. While he was sure the he had nothing to do with the 'missing dragon' he just didn't know if the pony could really be trusted. He wasn't going to risk dragons questioning the honor of his Firstclaw and his clan. That was all he cared about besides his hoard.

Golden Heart silently watched him. His Harmony magic was telling him that Metal Claws' heart was in the right place but he was missing the wisdom of empathy that he was going to need. This clan that he started with a unknown dragon –apparently– was founded on the Harmony traits that he possessed. Metal Claws would get there he just needed the right kind of push.

Golden Heart shook his head in amusement as he watched Metal Claws leave in a huff. He went back to his writing as he silently chuckled about what he was sure going to be a humbling encounter. _I would warn you not to underestimate him Metal Claws but… this might be the push you need._

* * *

Harmony could sense the approach of the red dragon. He slowly put down his charcoal and turned to await his entrance. He could feel the room heat up. Harmony sighed. It seem that draconic rage was also coming.

The doors to the chambers slammed open. Harmony could see the fire in the eyes of the angery red dragon. _Yep, rage. I hate it when I am right._

Harmony kept himself stoic as he formally addressed his guest. "Forgive me, but Dragon with scales of Red and Orange of the city of Hourglass I do not know how to address you correctly."

"He of Hourglass." The dragon growled in irritation. He was getting tired of this charade. This pony knew exactly how to address him.

"Forgive me, but I can't speak the necessary nuances correctly. However, I shall endeavor to find a way to use the honorific that you have requested."

"See that you do... ' _Outsider._ '" If the red dragon was trying to get a reaction out of Harmony it didn't work as he was not going to give him any satisfaction. Quite frankly he had heard more colorful insults in the past.

Seeing that the dragon seemed to have nothing else to speak on Harmony went back to his work. The section he was working on before the interruption was being particularly annoying. Everytime he thought he got it right he would discover another contradiction in the matrix requiring him to start over. He resisted the urge to mutter a few curses as he knew the dragon was behind him.

"What do you think you are doing?"

"It is a spell matrix." Harmony responded without stopping his latest design attempt.

"You would pollute this city with pony magic!?"

"This city was once the capital city of the Draconequus people. You are going to find a lot of non dragon magic within it."

"We have claimed it as our own. What ever magic was here before is now ours. I cannot allow yo but I will not allow you muddle it."

Harmony stopped his drawing. He was so tempted to take the obvious bait. Sadly he knew that it would only end with them in a circular argument leading to a very likely fiery finish. Instead he figured he would nip this dragon's arguments in the bud. Turning to face the annoyed dragon he asked, "Shouldn't you be talking to the Dragon of Purple and Green about this?"

"Keep him out of this." The red dragon jutted his head forward his claws extended in an act of aggression. He was not going to let this nammy-pamy pony dictate the conversation.

"No."

"What did you say?"

"I know you heard me. Draconic hearing is legendary."

The red dragon's rage nearly boiled over as he got right into Harmony's face. His growl was feral-like as he tried starring Harmony into submission.

"Is that a _Challenge_?" Harmony growled back ignoring the nearly overwhelming heat leaking from between the clenched teeth of the red dragon. He suppressed a sneeze as the sulfur tickled his nose.

The red dragon didn't move as he roared right in Harmony's face. The blast from the roar pushed him back a foot.

"Very well, then." Harmony threw the piece of charcoal he was using behind him. Harmony roared and flung his wings open in acceptance of the challenge. He slowly backed up until he had was at a honorable distance.

The red dragon smiled wickedly. _This will be easy._

Harmony saw the smile on the face of his opponent and smirked. _Overconfident? You really think it will be easy for you? Wrong._

Harmony and the dragon stood eyeing each other for a few moments before a nearly imperceptible nod from them started the challenge.

The red dragon surged forward with a roar, his claws readying to strike the pony. Harmony calmly stood as the dragon rapidly covered the distance between them. The smug calmness only enraged the dragon further. His eyes burned as he added dragon fire to his claws. He would see this pony burn.

If the added fire to the claws concerned Harmony he didn't show it. The dragon only increased his speed eager to put an end to the fight. As swung his claws Harmony calmly side stepped the dragon. When the momentum pushed the dragon passed Harmony he grabbed the left foreclaw and he spun round. The movement carried the rest of the dragon along. They momentarily exchanged looks as the shocked dragon flew through the air.

The dragon slammed into the wall. The wind temporarily knocked out of his lungs. Harmony charged at him and slammed his hoofs onto the now exposed belly. The force of the impact made sure that he what little air remained left him in a gurgling gasp. Before he could do anything to recover Harmony had his foreleg pressed hard against his windpipe. "Yield." Harmony whispered as he pushed harder down on the struggling red dragon's throat. For a moment he was worried that he would not yield.

Harmony resist to urge to sigh in relief as the red dragon stop struggling. Harmony slowly released the dragon. The dragon coughed and sputtered a bit as his breathing return to normal. The red dragon looked surprised as he saw a hoof enter his vision. He reached out and slowly pushed the hoof aside. He had lost the challenge and would not allow the winner to debase him any further. He was still a proud dragon and the Outsider was still an outsider.

Harmony hid his rolling eyes at the expected reaction. While he knew that he now had at least gained some respect it seemed it would be a while before he would have it fully.

The red dragon smirked as he got on to his feet. This pony wasn't half bad. The least he could do was give him a name to use that wasn't 'He of Hourglass.'"You may call me Quartermaster."

Harmony was going to respond in thanks when he erupted into a coughing fit. Unlike the last time he fell into one this one went straight to the horrible wet hack. The strange ash mixed with phlegm was coming out again. Harmony could feel his strength rush out from him. His knees buckled then collapsed.

Quartermaster looked on as Harmony fell to his knees. _This Outsider bested me within seconds but a simple cough does him in?_ He moved in closer to see why he was coughing. But when he saw what he was coughing it shocked him. _He is coughing up ash! How is that possible? I never got the opportunity to use my flame breath much less smoke. The fire on my claws was a clean magic fire it shouldn't have produced this... especially since the fire on my claws was extinguished the moment the Outsider grabbed me during that throw._

"Quartttter…" Harmony looked up to Quartermaster before retching a massive lob of ash.

"He of Hourglass…" Harmony struggled to get the words out. Every intake of breath seem to burn his lungs. "Scorpan…"

Harmony wheezed trying to remain conscious. He needed to just say four more words. But the words seemed to swim about in his head.

Quartermaster was torn. He could either run to get Golden Heart or wait until Harmony got out what he needed to say. Harmony answered his dilemma as he could feel the small tug of magic on his shoulder.

As the red dragon got down on his knees he could just make out Harmony whispering."Northern Oasis…" Harmony nearly lost conscious as he nearly dry heaved. "Un...tamed... Wilds…" At that his world faded to black as he collapsed.


	23. Mystery at the Oasis

Harmony blinked as he attempted to clear his vision. He could tell that he was lying on a couch next to a fire. He rubbed his foreleg against his eyes to clear the remaining sleep. It was then that he realized that he was in Scorpan's home. Looked around he couldn't see him. He slowly got up to a sitting position as he wasn't sure how long he was out or how much strength he had and he wasn't about to push it, yet.

"I never thought that I would see a dragon so distraught and so rage filled at the same time." Harmony turned around to see that Scorpan was entering the den with a tray of tea. "Though I'm certain you have."

Harmony rolled his eyes at Scorpan's greeting him with his trademark musing, "I have…" He sighed as knew what that meant. For a dragon to have such polar opposite emotions at the same time…

"Harmony?" Scorpan snapped a claw in front of Harmony's face. Harmony shooked his head at the sudden sound and movement. "Good. You're back. Tea?"

Harmony nodded in thanks as he carefully tested his magic out. Finding that at least his telekinesis was working he levitated the cup and took a comforting sip of the soothing herbal tea.

Scorpan silently sipped his tea along with Harmony. He knew that Harmony was going to need something calming with what he was about to tell him. Once he noticed that Harmony put down his tea he nonchalantly commented. "You no longer have Magic Wasting Disease."

If Harmony's jaw could drop to the floor it would. Of all the things to go right he was not expecting that. It had to be too good to be true. "How? Are you sure? I mean…"

"Yes, I'm quite sure." Scorpan was going to explain how he didn't know how when he saw that Harmony was out for the count. _Glad I waited until he put the cup down..._

Harmony again had completely lost all of his senses. The shock of having the debilitating disease that he had been suffering from for so long to truly be gone was too much for him to process. Scorpan sighed heavily knowing he would need to wait patiently for Harmony's gears to restart.

Scorpan managed to finished his third cup when Harmony finally woke from his catatonic state. _Time for another one._ "I have no idea why you are coughing slash vomiting up ash. I have not made a complete analysis yet, but it is draconic in origin."

That only partly surprised Harmony. He was also thinking it was draconic as well but was hoping that Scorpan would have an answer as to why. "I haven't been to the Migration in quite a while and I know you would have noticed if I had an ash problem when we attempted to cure the Magic Wasting Disease a couple of months ago."

Scorpan put his cup down before speaking, "I don't have an easy way to say this but what about the Dragon Keeper?"

"Hmmm…" Harmony had thought that could be a small possibility but neither him or Quartermaster had really done anything that would cause this much. He had coughed up ash before when he wasn't careful at the Migration. It was a sign that he was inhaling too much of their smoke. It meant that he needed to renew one of several spells that he had to cast for his own protection whenever he was there. _It was lucky that day that they had been the the whelp crater and not in any of the others…_ "It's not likely but at this point I wouldn't count it out. What do you need from him?"

"A sample of his ash. Enough to fill this jar." Scorpan put a sizable mason jar on the coffee table between them.

Harmony eyed the size of the jar. It was going to be interesting to get Quartermaster to produce that much ash willingly. "You sure you need that much?"

"Hopefully not. But I don't want to have to walk all the way to Hourglass to get more. I'm not that young anymore. Plus with the final Keeper now here the 'Chaos Bringer' is going to make life a living Tartarus for all of us."

"Very well..." Harmony sighed heavily at the reminder of the task ahead. "I will also get a sample from the other dragon of Hourglass as well."

"Other dragon? In Hourglass? Are you saying that not only the Dragon Keeper has claimed Hourglass but another dragon as well? Hourglass is a large city but not _that_ big."

"The Keeper started a dragon clan."

"A dragon clan?"

Harmony shrugged. "I pretty much know about as much as you on the subject."

"Sounds headache inducing."

Harmony raised an eyebrow at Scorpan's knowing remark. "Are you reading into my magic more than you need too again?"

"No…" Scorpan quickly answered waving his hands defensively before he incredulously added, "should I?"

Harmony facehoofed knowing that he walked into that one. He decided not to indulge any more than that response as he didn't want to start that routine. At least Scorpan wouldn't run it six feet under like a certain draconequus would. "How much does he know?"

"The Dragon Keeper? Not much. I had to kick him out when he wouldn't stop acting like a vulture awaiting his next meal as I was attempting to access what was wrong with you."

Harmony laughed a bit. "I bet that didn't go well." Harmony knew that Scorpan had done something extremely dangerous. A dragon with a threatened hoard was not someone you would want to get mad. Well madder than they would already be. Kicking him out could have been enough to become fricasseed with any other dragon. Luckily it was He of Hourglass. He was bound to do something surprising by doing what would be considered the opposite reaction of a 'normal' dragon.

"Not until I told him that his hovering was inhibiting my ability to help and that I would call for him when I had something or when you awoke." Scorpan poured out another cup for Harmony who nodded in thanks. "I did ask him if there were any dragon specific diseases that might have any symptoms that would match yours. Unfortunately, he knew of none that could even remotely match. Of course a dragon disease might act differently on a non dragon…"

"What is the other thing." Harmony eyed Scorpan over the rim of his cup.

"Uh…"

"There is something you are hiding… what is it?"

"Well, I'm still not positive of the results…"

Harmony slowly and dramatically put down his cup. "Scorpan…"

"When I checked your magic… I found an anomaly…"

"An anomaly?"

"There was dragon mana in you along with alicorn."

"Odd, but I think I know how that happened. He of Hourglass stop a fainting spell a while back. Although it should have dispelled itself shortly afterwards."

"I did surreptitiously scanned Golden Heart signature and it doesn't match. That would be odd if that was the only thing. This is what really got my attention: I had a hard time seeing the dragon magic. There is only one way that could happen. The dragon magic had the same signature as your native alicorn magic."

"Correct me if I'm remembering wrong but what you just said was a step in the curing process for the Magic Wasting Disease. So why would that get you so concerned?"

"True. But what got me was that transplanted magic from a different species can not replenish itself. This magic can."

"How!?" Harmony barely managed to keep himself from going into another zone out. The only thing that could even come close would be ascension. But in that case the magic type completely changes to the new. Twilight's magic signature at her ascension was the same it just changed from unicorn to alicorn. That obviously didn't happen here as the dragon magic would have clearly overpowered the Alicorn...

"No idea. After I discovered the dragon magic during your initial scan I removed some of the dragon mana to study to see if it was the source of your ash coughing. I had taken it to the lab to study. When I was unable to get much out of it I came back to do some more detailed scans. It was then that I found out that your dragon mana was increasing. I tried removing a larger amount just to see if maybe I had messed up the first time. I waited an hour and did the scan again and the mana level had returned to the previous amount. I experiment several more times but the same thing happened every time."

"Did you remove it all?"

"No. I dared not. I wasn't going to risk it. I'm not sure how the dragon mana is replenishing itself and I have no idea what could happen if I remove it all."

"Is it over powering the alicorn mana?"

"No…" Scorpan blinked in confusion at such a strange question. "But I would refrain from trying to use the mana as the results may not be good."

"Ugh…" Harmony rubbed his head with a vengeance as a migrane of a headache formed, "with every answer we only discover a more deeper mystery…"

"Seems to be a prevailing problem for you."

"Do me a favor Scorpan. Keep everything about the dragon magic between us. I don't think He of Hourglass could handle what it could mean." Harmony began to stand as he knew that he had to get back to work and it could be a while before Scorpan could finish whatever experiments he needed to do. Scorpan tried putting out an arm to stop Harmony when but Harmony shook his head. "I have a job to do. You know this Scorpan. As we don't know what exactly is causing this we are wasting time here…" Harmony looked to the north. Even though there was only a wall there he knew that He of Hourglass was out there, needing him.

* * *

Harmony could just feel the dreariness, the sadness, the pain. The source was sitting ahead of him. He of Hourglass was facing away with his back towards him. He was bowed over the water and his head was in his claws. His tail laid limpy on the ground and he was sure if He of Hourglass wings ㅡwherever they seemed to disappear toㅡ would be droopy. The bright sparks that normally flowed over him seemed to have dimmed like the mood that the dragon was in. A slight disturbance rippled in the waters of the Oasis which meant only one thing. It takes a lot for a proud dragon to demean themselves like that.

"He of Hourglass?" Harmony had softly called out as he didn't want to startle him in this state. If the dragon heard there was no indication. He got right up to the dragon and whispered softly, "Brother?"

"I thought… I thought I was going to lose you." When the dragon finally spoke it was in a whispered croak and he refused to face Harmony. Harmony's heart nearly broke as he heard the pain emanating from his brother. "I was useless, totally useless…"

Now that was enough. Harmony knew better than that. That was Spike speaking not Golden Heart. Even as a hatchling Spike was not useless he just thought that. Usefulness was not defined by the sharpness of claws and teeth or by size of body. It was a lesson that Spike never quite got. Harmony sighed _Looks like it's time to get that lesson over with._

"I'm sorry brother, but you're wrong." Harmony lit his horn and conjured a musical wind. "You are so wrong."

"Brother…" He of Hourglass looked around trying to figure out what was going on. The music was soothing but he could feel something much older and deeper as well.

 ** _Let your heart tell you the truth_** (He of Harmony?)

 ** _Never forget your place_**

 ** _Let my voice be soothing_**

 ** _Regain your peace_**

"Is this…?" He of Hourglass wondered. Harmony ignored him as he continued his song.

 ** _So a little voice tells you that you are useless?_**

 ** _May my voice cry out in song_**

 ** _You hear that you are what some might say is hopeless_**

 ** _For I say that they are wrong_**

 ** _Let your heart tell you the truth_**

 ** _Never forget your place_**

 ** _Let my voice be soothing_**

 ** _Regain your peace_**

He of Hourglass' pain seemed to lift off of him. _This definitely is the legendary Soul Music_. He figured that the ancient form of harmony magic would return to the world, but…

 ** _Usefulness is not defined by size, fang, or claw_**

 ** _Nor only by strength alone_**

 ** _To just be there with another when their dark hour falls_**

 ** _'Tis better than being one_**

He of Hourglass could fill the pull increase. The ancient musical magic of Harmony was calling for him to join. He couldn't help but answer.

 ** _Let your_** ** _(I'll let my)_** ** _heart tell you_** ** _(me)_** ** _the truth_**

 ** _Never forget your_** ** _(my) place_**

 ** _Let my_** ** _(our)_** ** _voice_** ** _(s)_** ** _be soothing_**

 ** _Regain your_** ** _(my)_** ** _peace_**

 ** _Our hearts will sing out the truth_**

 ** _As we remember our place_**

 ** _Our voices will be soothing_**

 ** _And find our peace_**


	24. The Phantom of Strongberg

A rolled up letter appeared with a soft pop. With a sigh Harmony took it with his magic broke the seal and quickly scanned the contents of the letter. Harmony facehoofed at what he read.

Ever since the ash coughing/vomit incident six weeks ago Golden Heart has been on an overprotective streak. Another trait of Spike's(which he was sure that he got from Twilight) showing through. Harmony would smile nostalgically at it if it wasn't interfering with his work. With any luck Quartermaster will be able knock some sense into him before his return. In the mean time he had to report in every three days just to get him to let him go. That was after they got into an argument as Golden Heart originally wanted him send a letter every day.

 **He of Hourglass,**

 **Please, Brother, relax. I will be fine. I am not a helpless hatchling. Need I remind you that I have survived much worse...**

 **I just arrived in the town of Strongberg with any luck I should have the oscillarium ore that I need for the matrix.**

 **Your Brother and Fellow Keeper,**

 **He of Harmony**

* * *

Harmony walked into forge behind the local blacksmith shop. The smithy should be able to get him the ore that he needed. Hopefully it wouldn't take too long to get the ore. Even though Strongberg was known for its oscillarium ore deposits but he wasn't sure if the there would be enough currently mined or not.

"Forge!" Harmony cried out when he saw a very familiar, greying, female griffin manning the fire.

"By the Roc's feathers, Harmony!" The wizened griffin abandoned the fire to greet the cloaked alicorn. "Long time, no see. What have you been up to? And please tell me its not that boring Keeper work."

"Well then, I'm going to have to disappoint you once again."

"You know, if you ever need a squeeze I'm up for some pillow time." Forge flicked her tail at Harmony's nose.

"Forge…" Harmony was so glad that his embarrassed blush was hidden inside his cloak otherwise he was sure that Forge would have laid it on even thicker.

"I have always wonder what a horn–"

" _Forge!_ " Harmony breathed a sigh of relief at the sound of someone calling for Forge. He wasn't sure if he could handle any more of Forge's colorful bedroom 'suggestions.' "Forge!"

A very small griffin fluttered into the forge. Harmony thought the griffon was a bit too small at least from the sound of his voice. The young chick tripped in his exuberance. He smashed into Harmony knocking him over. It was then that he noticed why he was so small and why he slid so easily. He wasn't a griffin he was a hippogriffin.

Forge laughed heartily at the pile of feathers and fur before she helped them up. "Yes, what is it Pen Feather?"

"The sheriff needs you again. Apparently he forgot to grease the hinges to one of the cells again."

"That feather brain! I swear he's full of helium sometimes. Ugh. Duty calls. I shall be back shortly, _my tweet_." She flicked her tail at Harmony again as she exited with an oil can.

"Yuck." Pen Feather gagged.

Harmony facehoofed. He was beginning to remember why he had not been to Strongberg in nearly 30 years. He knew that Forge was teasing but it was still embarrassing. It wasn't that his eyes never strayed towards a mare or two over his long life he just never let it go a second longer then that. He knew that it would never work. Between him being sterile and his work as a Keeper he knew it could never be. Still to have a family…

 _Yeah, you did… Killer._

 _Murderer._

 _Hypocrite._

"Hey mister…"

"Mister!"

Harmony almost jumped as he realized he had zoned out from the voices in front of someone, again. "Oh, I'm sorry little one, I seemed to have drifted off."

Pen Feather ruffled his feathers. He mumbled angrily under his breath. Harmony could just make out the words 'not' and 'little'. Harmony smiled knowing that all younglings seemed to want to be big only to wished they were little again once they were big.

The minutes passed by in silence as Harmony patiently waited for Forge to return. He was surprised that Pen Feather was staying quiet and out of trouble. It was not typical for a child of his age (pony, griffin, or in this case hippogriffin) to remain still and silent for so long. Although thinking on it he remembered how angry Forge could get when someone messed around in her forge without her permission. And if he recalled correctly the last one to do that was defeathered in less than ten seconds.

The sounds of an argument woke Harmony from his inner musings. He saw that Pen Feather feathers were ruffled up a bit in excitement. This was not a good sign.

"I don't trust him." A male voice yelled, muffled a bit from distance and walls.

"He is a Keeper! How can you not?" Harmony recognized that voice as Forge.

"Never heard of them."

"By the Roc's Feathers!"

From there the argument devolved into a cursing match. Harmony facehoofed while he appreciated Forge defending him but it was unnecessary. By this point they had arrived by in the forge. Pen Feather was cowering in the corner. Harmony didn't blame him in the least. He could see that the male was a young pony with a blond mane and brown fur. His cutiemark looked like a police star.

"Forge." Harmony yelled out over one of Forge's more colorful rants.

As expected they either ignored or didn't noticed his interjection.

"Forge!" He yelled again. This time Forge and the sheriff stopped their arguing to stare at the cloaked Keeper. "I'm not well known in Equestria."

"How could they not know you?!"

Harmony shrugged. He knew why but he wasn't on the sheriff's good side. The last thing he wanted was the sheriff knowing that the reason was dragons. He still need to get the oscillaruim ore and really was not in the mood for a posse or a mob running him out of town.

"Forge may trust you but I don't. I don't know what a Keeper is and I really don't care. I'll be watching you." The sheriff threatened before he stomped out of the forge.

Harmony rolled his eyes as the sheriff walked out of the forge. _If you really knew what a Keeper was you'd know that I outrank you._

"Sorry about that. The sheriff has been on edge since the traveling bard's wagon was destroyed by the Phantom a few days ago."

"The Phantom?"

"A mysterious shadow figure that has been haunting town the past few years. We can't figure out what or whom this aberration really is. Everything about it is contradictory…"

"How so?"

"Well of the few confirmed sightings all describe it as minotaur like shadow. The most recent attack contradict that as there was evidence of claws."

"Hmm…" _A minotaur like shadow figure with claws…_ Harmony was pretty sure he knew what the Phantom really was. It was definitely was not a minotaur. The claw marks make that quite clear. He would need to look at the damage to be sure.

"I know that Hmmm… You think you know the culprit?"

Harmony would have given her a eye raise but he was still in his clock. "Maybe, I need to inspect the damage."

"Well, as I don't have any pressing work I shall... _escort_ you." Forge giggled like a little chick.

Harmony had to suppress a shudder. Somehow age had only made her more promiscuous.

He sighed as he followed Forge out of her blacksmith shop and down the street. Pen Feather apparently was curious as he quickly caught up to them near the tavern.

"You are lucky. We hadn't gotten around to cleaning up the mess yet." Forge was explaining as they rounded a corner. Next to the inn was the shatter remains of a wagon. "The Phantom was never like this before. Petty vandalism, sure, but nothing like this…"

"Whoa." Pen Feather yelped.

"Indeed…" Harmony agreed.

"It was like a tornado went through an' booom and it was like…." Pen Feather went full of CMC. Harmony groaned as he had hoped that this child would not be that way. "This is way cooler then the Phantom's usual boring music and lame art… I mean flute music? Come on! Wheres the drums and the bass guitar…"

Harmony decided to just nod in a noncommittal way. Pen Feather kept talking on as if Harmony was intently listening to his every word. Harmony was not terribly interested in over dramatics or past incidents he needed the facts of this one. There had to be a reason for the escalation. But first he needed find evidence to confirm his suspicions.

It was definitely destroyed by claw and not by an instrument. The markings also showed that it was not a griffin. The scratch marks showed that whatever attacked used four claws. While griffins had four claws the orientation of the fourth claw meant that it almost near used in scratch like attacks.

Harmony was giving a particular plank a close examination when he heard something that Pen Feather was spouting out. "Wait back up… did I hear that correctly?"

"Uh… The part about always being against ponies?"

"Fascinating…" _Another interesting part of the puzzle._ Harmony put down the plank and shifted some more of the debris away.

He eyed something half hidden under one of the boards. With a hoof he pushed the board out of the way. He lifted the object that he saw earlier. It was a white scale. _Well it appears that we have a dragon problem…_ Slowly he let the scale down as he didn't want to reveal just yet that he discovered what the Phantom was. He continued to poke around the wagon like he was still looking for evidence. He needed to check out the tavern new paint 'job' but Pen Feather was still talking a mile a minute. After a while Harmony stopped looking as he figured that was enough time. He rubbed his chin in fake thought.

Pen Feather noticed this and finally stopped his hyperactive talking to ask. "So? What do you think?"

 _Finally the opening I needed._ "I would like to see the most recent graffiti."

"Uh… sure."

Forge ruffled the head feathers of Pen Feather affectionately. "You do that. I have to go back and check on my forge."

"See you in a bit Forge."

"I look forward to it." She leaned in and whispered a bit too loudly. "I'll get the bed all warmed up for you."

"Again. Yuck."

"Come Pen Feather, show me where the tavern is."

Pen Feather zoomed ahead laughing. Harmony chuckled a bit at the youth before trotting to catch up. He knew exactly where the tavern was. He also knew that the hippogriffin would be disappointed to not help out with his investigation. Not that he needed that help as he was done and just had to go find the culprit. Looking ahead he saw Pen Feather excitedly waving him over to the alley next to the tavern.

"Come on it's over here!"

Harmony obliged and quickly caught up to Pen Feather. There on the wall next to him was the graffiti. It was a very crude depiction of a horseshoe with three painted claw marks across it. Below written in dripping red and extremely poor griffin was the words:

 **Clawz 4vR**

Harmony facehoofed. _Really?_ "Childish."

"Huh?"

Harmony shook his head. "Just an observation."

Pen Feather yelped as he suddenly realized that it was getting dark. "It is getting late and the streets are not safe after dark."

"You go on ahead," He waved his hoof dismissively, "I have something I need to do."

"But…" Pen Feather suddenly couldn't see Harmony anywhere. "Uh…" _Where did he go?_

* * *

The cave was definitely not one an adult dragon would use as the height of the cave would barely be large enough for a whelp to walk through. Even though the cave entrance looked over the town the rocks around it hid it from prying eyes. It would be a great spot for a young dragon to nest in.

"Good evening young dragon."

The only response he got was the dripping of water and the sound of the breeze whistling through the cave. He knew the dragon was in there. The faint smell of sulfur drifted from within. If that wasn't enough he had created a specific tracking spell from the scale he had found earlier. According to it the dragon was watching just beyond the light.

"Going to be quiet? Fine by me." Harmony wasn't terribly surprised. The dragon was probably surprised that someone, a stranger noless, found his cave so easily.

"I know it was you that destroyed the traveling bard's wagon and instruments. I don't know what your problem is with ponies or music. But it stops, _now_."

"Here's the deal. You are going to compensate very very generously the pony you terrified to help replace his wagon and instruments along with the bits he could have earned. Then you are going to wash off the graffiti that you spray painted on the tavern. You have three days to do this. And if you don't like that I will notify the town who their 'Phantom' is and where you are. Trust me, my punishment is mild in comparison to what the griffins will do with you."

"Don't try and flee either because I will be watching."

"Remember, three days. I shall be on the hill at sunrise on the hill overlooking town." With that Harmony walked away from the cave and into the night.


	25. On the Road

Harmony just loved the smell of a crisp fall morning. There was just something about the chill of the morning that seemed refreshing. And he was going to need it as he had to haul a nearly a ton of ore.

"You are going to have to be a lot better than that to sneak up on me young dragon."

"How? I was downwind." Came the voice of the Phantom of Strongberg.

"I may lack the excellent hearing and smell of a dragon but I do have experience on my side."

"Who or what are you? I smell dragon on you but you are no dragon."

"I think I'll keep that to myself for now." Harmony finally turned around to see an annoyed whelp.

Harmony started to walk in a wide circle around the whelp examining him closely from head to toe. The dragon was white scaled with a cyan under belly and hair spines. His ear frills and spines were teal colored. Harmony couldn't see what type of ear frill the dragon had as it was hidden by what looked like a headphone band. At the end of his tail was a forked spike. He was wearing a cream colored jacket with yellow scorpion embroidered near the collar. _Well now I see why they didn't see the wings… Wonder where he got the jacket… with minotaurs being somewhat rare in Equestria and even more so in the lands to the north..._

The whelp yawned a bit, clearly bored. His black claws flexed into the dirt as Harmony made a second circle around him. _Interesting coloration. It also looks like he may been a mix breed. Can't say for sure…_ Harmony stopped and took a look at the eyes. Sharp emerald eyes stared back at him. _A black triangle under the eyes? Don't see that too often._

While Harmony was examining him the dragon was examining the cloaked figure. The brown cloak looked torn and tattered from use. Oddly, he couldn't see into the tears, holes, or even the hood. _Must be enchanted..._ He was getting bored as he really couldn't get much of out a brown cloak and a dragon smelling non dragon that he couldn't see. He started getting uncomfortable when the figure finally stopped after two circles around him and stared at him. At least he thought he was staring at him he couldn't see the eyes. _This guy is creepy._

Harmony walked past the whelp and hooked himself to the loaded wagon. "Come. I would prefer to get to End Junction before the night train leaves."

"And what makes you think I'm coming with you?"

Harmony turned his head back to face the dragon. "You're here aren't you?" The whelp raised a claw for a second then lowered it when he had no retort to give. "I only required you to pay for the damages. I said nothing about you needing to meet me here."

He turned back around and began to pull the wagon behind him. He wasn't going to wait for the dragon to decide what he wanted to do. He figured the dragon would decided one way or another and would catch up to him if he was a curious as Harmony thought he was.

 _Knew it._ Harmony smiled as he could hear the dragon running to catch up to him. "Here you may want to wear this. I don't want to cause a panic." He threw a black cloak behind him with his magic.

"What kind of town is End Junction?"

"Pony."

"Ugh."

"Get use to it. We have to go through the heart of Equestria to get to our destination."

 _What did I get myself into!?_

* * *

The sun was low in the sky when the traveling pair caught sight of the town. It was more industrial than most towns. End Junction was the end of line for trains which normally would mean a small backwater town. But considering its proximity to griffin territory and its mineral riches it was quite the place for the moving of ore and other earthly riches to and from Equestria and nearby griffin eyries

Harmony looked over to his companion as they got closer. The dragon was trying to hide his nervousness but to a keen eye like Harmony it was quite clear. "Don't worry, we won't be in town very long. Ponies here are all business so you wont need to worry about unwanted attention… unless you keep looking like a reindeer being stalked…" Harmony had to stifle a laugh as the dragon went to the extreme opposite. "Now you're too stiff just relax."

"Maybe I should have stayed in Strongberg…"

"Wimp."

"I am not a wimp!"

"Then maybe you should keep up." Harmony laughed as he spend up into a gallop.

The whelp jaw dropped for a second before he ran to catch up. He caught up to Harmony at the train platform. Harmony resisted the urge to say something foalish like 'what took you?'

Harmony disconnected from his wagon to speak to the ticketmaster. "I need a boxcar and I need it taken to Ponyville."

The pony inside the counter took one look at him and scoffed. He was in no mood to deal with a pair of train hobos. Harmony rolled his eyes at the reaction of the clerk. Not that he was terribly surprised given the condition of his cloak.

"I think this will be more then enough." Harmony lifted a large bulging sack into the ticket counter. The clerk went wide eye when the bag burst open and bits pour out. Harmony smirked at the greedy glint he saw. "Keep the change."

"I'll get you a boxcar right away." The pony zipped out of the booth so fast that Harmony had to hold the hood to his cloak down from the wind created in the pony's wake. He could hear the dragon laughing hard behind him. He stole a glance to see that not only was the dragon laughing but was bent over slapping his knees. Harmony just shook his head in amusement.

The sun had fallen by the time Harmony and his companion dragon climbed into a boxcar at the end of the train. Once in Harmony lifted the wagon inside with his magic. The whelp took off his cloak, glad to be finally rid of it for the moment. The engineers were apparently waiting on them because as soon as they got in the train it began to move. The dragon lost his footing with the sudden movement and fell over. A golden object fell out of his pocket.

"A scorpion ocarina?" Harmony eyed the object. It had been a while since he saw one of those.

" _Don't_ touch it." The whelp growled as he picked it up and began to inspect it for damage. Seeing none he sat down near the door.

"Wouldn't dream of it young dragon." _This is interesting to say the least. Now I'm sure he is of mixed heritage… Scorpion ocarinas are usually made by dragons in the deserts east of Zebcoria. Of course this one is made of metal not by an actual scorpion._

The whelp eyed Harmony wearily. He wasn't too sure about the cloaked whatever he was. After a few minutes he shrugged and leaned back against the door jab. He crossed his legs and let his tail wag out of the door to flap in the breeze. He eyed Harmony one more time before he started playing his ocarina.

Harmony laid down a well. With a relaxed sigh he crossed his forelegs together to watch the stars twinkle above. The ocarina music was both upbeat and relaxing. Before too long he could feel the pull. He was more than happy to allow it to carry him along.

 ** _Walking in the cool of the night..._**

 ** _Gazing at the lights..._**

 ** _A song so bright..._**

 ** _My fire alights…._**

 ** _As I see the lights..._**

 ** _Twinkling abound..._**

 ** _Flying on silver clouds..._**

 ** _Of light and sound…_**

 ** _Singing aloud..._**

 ** _With joy around..._**

The dragon stopped playing. His jaw slightly agape at Harmony's ability to sing those lyrics to his playing so perfectly. It had to be impossible as he never played the tune before. He just made it up on the spot! "How did you do that?"

"You led I only followed."

The dragon blinked in confusion.

"You led the song I only joined in."

"Stop. Speaking. Riddles!" The whelp got up, angry at the cloaked figure. His rage built to scary heights as his teeth ground together. "You infuriating, annoying, unspecific…!"

He roared as he stopped thinking and let out a stream of neon blue flames. He smirked as the figure was engulfed. He kept up the flames until he could no longer see him from the brilliant light of his flames. He panted as he tried to catch his breath. His vision cleared up after a few moments.

"You done?" The voice caused the whelp nearly fall out of the boxcar. Harmony walked back into the light. His cloak the same as always. The dragon couldn't believe it. His jaw dropped at not only seeing the cloaked figure still alive but also not having a trace of smoke or ash upon him. "Good. The music you just played? I'm not sure what dragons call it as I have not heard it done among dragons in nearly… uh… three thousand years take a century or two. It's known in Equestria as a Heartsongs or Harmony songs. Its an extremely ancient magic."

Harmony laid back down where he was before glad for the residual warmth from the dragon's fire. "Normally it can only be done when there is harmony. There are exceptions. Some people are what are known as naturals. Naturals can initiate a song without needing the any of the usual prerequisites to start. I really don't want to go over that right now. You are probably the only natural dragon there is given that dragons are not harmonious."

"What? I'm a dragon not some soft and furry bunny wunny!" The dragon's rage started to climb again as he clenched his claws together at what he thought was a slight against dragons.

Harmony chuckled while shaking his head. "I think you are mixing sunshine, giggles, and softness with harmony… If you are wondering what dragon harmony really is you will need to see the Dragon Keeper."

The whelp was shocked again, his arms dropping to his sides. "Wait! The Dragon Keeper has arrived!?"

"Let me guess... a bedtime story?" The whelp growled and tried to claw Harmony who slyly stepped out of the way. "Sorry, I couldn't help myself… I was on assignment from him in Strongberg."

"He had you get oscillarium ore?"

"Yes."

"Why? It's not exactly a very tasty mineral."

"I take you have had personal experience as I can't eat rocks. As for the why, I'm not saying."

The dragon crossed his arms and grumbled, "Fine."'

For a while neither one talk or did really anything but watch the world go by.

After a bit Harmony's curiosity got the better of him. "Your ocarina…"

The whelp grumbled a bit before answering, "Yeah what about it?"

"Where did you get it?"

The dragon sighed heavily and turned to look at the scenery flying by. After a while he finally whisper, softly, "It was my mothers. I lost her and my father when I was merely a hatchling."

"So as I figured, an orphan." The whelp growled. "Chill, dragon, I too am an orphan. My 'parents' were killed by an agent of the 'Nameless One' when I was born."

"'Nameless One'?"

"The enemy of every living being on this planet and the personal nemesis of the Keepers."

"I was out playing my mother's ocarina at the pond near my parents cave." He stroked the ocarina a bit before continuing, "There was this strange gurgling roar. It didn't sound like my parents. I… I… froze in fear."

Harmony stared at the whelp who had stopped talking and was again staring off into the wilderness. _A gurgling roar? This story will not end well._

"My parents answered a moment later with roars of their own. I started to run towards my parents. But then I heard my father roar in pain…" The whelp shuttered at the memory.

Harmony knew what must had come next. It was a story he had heard a few times before. Though he couldn't recall anyone of them becoming orphans because of it… This dragon must have got the parents by surprise.

"When I finally got the courage to enter my home… It was horrible… My parents were a bloody broken mess. The dragon that invaded and my father were… were already gone. Mother was barely alive and was fading…"

 _Promise me one thing my little Nova..._

 _Keep living…_

 _Mom!_

 _Promise me…_

 _I… I promise..._

What the dragon said next came out in an almost indiscernible whisper. "That was twenty years ago…" With that the whelp fell into sobs.

Harmony tried to put a comforting hoof on the crying dragon' shoulders but was quickly rebuffed. "You have nothing to be ashamed of."

"But I'm crying! A proud strong dragon doesn't."

"I would disagree and so would the Dragon Keeper." Harmony took a calming deep breath. "Your parents died to protect you from the attacking dragon. From what you described it sounded like the dragon was under the Beast growth curse. One of several curses of the 'Nameless One.'"

The whelp only stared at Harmony in response. For a few moments neither spoke as tears still streamed down the dragon's face. Harmony slowly turned away. He could see that the dragon needed sometime to himself so he headed to the back of the boxcar where he promptly plopped down emotionally spent.

Harmony laid there for hours sleep never really coming to him as his own painful memories replayed in his mind. He understood the pain of the young dragon. He wasn't going to push. The dragon would talk if and when he was ready.

It was late into the night when he awoke from the sounds of scraping claws. He looked up the see that the whelp was heading towards him. Harmony slowly got up into a sitting position. Even with the dim light he could see that the dragon's eyes were dry but blood shot.

The dragon slowly sat down across from Harmony. "Nova Blaze…. My name is Nova Blaze."

Harmony smiled. He figured that if he waited the dragon would most likely come to him. He doubted the dragon had hardly talked in twenty years so this was a good step. "Well Nova Blaze I think its time I get you caught up on the Dragon Code. But first, to repay for telling me your name. You may call me Harmony."

"Harmony?!" Nova Blaze snorted. "Really?"

Harmony groaned. _It is going to be a loooong night._


End file.
